Learned Index: Piecewise Geometric Model (PGM-Index) in Rust

A clean, zero-dependency Rust implementation and comparative benchmark suite of Piecewise Geometric Model (PGM) Learned Index Structures.

This repository evaluates mathematical function approximations of Empirical Cumulative Distribution Functions (CDFs) against standard pointer trees (BTreeMap), contiguous binary search (slice::binary_search), and cache-conscious breadth-first search (EytzingerSearch).

[!NOTE] Academic Attribution: Learned Indexes were originated by Kraska et al. (MIT/Google, SIGMOD 2018). The PGM-index was invented and proven by Paolo Ferragina and Giorgio Vinciguerra (University of Pisa, PVLDB 2020). The Eytzinger layout was formalized by Paul-Virak Khuong and Pat Morin (ACM JEA 2017). This repository is an independent, clean-room implementation in pure safe Rust.

Architectural Comparison (4 Search Paradigms)

Benchmark Summary (v0.3.0 Consolidated Results)

Measured on x86_64 hardware in --release mode. Consolidated average across all 3 workload distributions (30 independent runs per target structure with a 32MB L1-L3 CPU cache eviction barrier between phases):

Detailed breakdown per distribution (Dense Time-Series, Uniform Sparse, and Heavy-Tailed Lognormal) is available in docs/benchmarks/statistical_benchmarks.md.

Reproducibility & Verification

The v0.3.0 test suite and benchmark harness support strict single-threaded isolation and modular target selection:

# Clone the repository

git clone https://github.com/gilnett/learned_index_lab.git

cd learned_index_lab


# Run the unit test suite with thread isolation

cargo test --release -- --test-threads=1


# Execute the full 10-run release benchmark across all 4 targets

cargo run --release


# Run isolated benchmarks on specific targets

cargo run --release -- --target eytzinger,pgm --runs 10

cargo run --release -- --target pgm --suite uniform

Documentation Index

• Theoretical Foundations:
  • CDF Approximation in Learned Indexes: Mathematical regression formulation.
  • Optimal Streaming PLA: Single-pass bounded slope corridor algorithm.
  • Eytzinger Layout: Complete binary tree array with branchless traversal.
  • Bounded Local Search: In-register ALU bounds and local verification.
  • Theory Index & Full Papers: Overview with direct links to academic publications.
• Benchmarks & Performance:
  • Statistical Benchmarks (10-Run Matrix): Detailed results for Dense Time-Series, Uniform Sparse, and Heavy-Tailed Lognormal distributions.
• Architecture & Use Cases:
  • Production Architecture & Real-World Use Cases: OLAP columnar zone maps, LSM-Tree NVMe cache residency, and decision matrices.
• Historical Archives:
  • v0.2.0 Documentation Archive
  • v0.1.1 Documentation Archive

References

Technical Articles & Deep Dives

• Why We've Been Indexing Data Wrong for 50 Years: Replacing B-Trees with Math in Rust: Architectural breakdown of CPU cache dynamics, the memory wall, mathematical CDF approximation, and real-world system implications of replacing pointer hierarchies with linear functions.
• Learned Indexes in Rust v0.2: Answering Reddit, Adding Range Queries, and Beating B-Trees: Community technical follow-up addressing memory overhead questions, implementing predecessor search (lower_bound), slice scans, and expanding benchmark baselines.

Seminal Research Papers

• Kraska et al. (2018): "The Case for Learned Index Structures" (ACM SIGMOD 2018) – PDF (arXiv) · arXiv:1712.01208. Seminal paper proving that sorted indexes can be modeled as cumulative distribution function (CDF) regressions.
• Ferragina & Vinciguerra (2020): "The PGM-index: a fully-dynamic compressed learned index with provable worst-case bounds" (PVLDB 2020) – PDF (PVLDB) · PDF (arXiv) · arXiv:1910.06169. Establishes optimal piecewise linear approximation (PLA) under bounded error corridors $\epsilon$.
• Khuong & Morin (2017): "Array Layouts for Comparison-Based Searching" (ACM JEA 2017) – PDF (arXiv) · arXiv:1509.05053. Formalizes the cache-conscious Eytzinger array layout and branchless level-order search.

Reference Codebases & Implementations

• gvinciguerra/PGM-index: Official C++ reference implementation of the Piecewise Geometric Model index (University of Pisa, pgm.di.unipi.it).
• std::collections::BTreeMap: Rust Standard Library B-Tree implementation.
• slice::binary_search: Rust Standard Library core slice binary search.
• Algorithmica: Eytzinger Binary Search: Microarchitectural analysis of cache line alignment and branchless search.

Industry Storage Engines & Analytical Systems

• facebook/rocksdb: High-performance embedded key-value database using LSM-Trees and BlockBasedTable format.
• duckdb/duckdb: High-performance embedded analytical columnar database.
• ClickHouse/ClickHouse: High-performance columnar database management system for real-time analytics.
• apache/parquet-format: Open-source columnar storage format for deep nested and flat record data.
• scylladb/scylladb: Low-latency NoSQL columnar database written in C++.
• google/leveldb: Foundational LSM-Tree storage engine written by Sanjay Ghemawat and Jeff Dean.

License

Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (LICENSE or http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0).