Names of the Core Objects

We mention how the properties and names of barrels were arrived at. We discuss the three most used barrels - a classic barrel, tanker and flotilla.

Knowing that all documents can be transformed to a barrel, it can, therefore, be safely assumed that only barrels come to the system. All incoming barrels are sent to a dynamic barrel which can organize its inner structure so that it is able to reflect changes in an indexed collection. Because the dynamic barrel ``uploads all incoming barrels'', it is termed a tanker (The dynamic barrel is implemented by the Tanker class). Since the tanker's hold is not unlimited, at times the tanker must free space somehow for new cargo.

When the hold becomes full (this term does not just mean that there is no empty place for another barrel, it can also mean that the tanker is not weighted well), the tanker launches a reorganization of its hold, using a reorganization algorithm. The algorithm can also be termed a dynamization algorithm, because it realizes the dynamization effect in the tanker.

The reorganization algorithm selects a subset of barrels on the basis of defined rules. The selected barrels are then merged to one barrel that finally replaces the subset. This way a reduction in the number of managed barrels can be achieved, allowing the tanker to accept new barrels.

Lemma: A tanker is a subclass of a barrel. Proof: Every barrel operation that must be implemented in a tanker can also be executed over the barrel that represents the tanker. Obviously, in a real implementation an attempt will be made to decompose and distribute the request to the active barrels of the tanker, in order to merge their responses to a final response that then goes out of the tanker.

Now, expanding upon the seagoing analogy, the tankers can be organized to a larger structure, a flotilla. The flotilla could then be realized like the tanker, with dynamization capability, but the result would again be a tanker (since a tanker can manage any barrels, and a tanker is the subclass of barrel, a tanker, therefore, can also manage tankers). Therefore, a different approach should now be used, else we reinvent the same subclass of a barrel.

Thus the number of tankers in a flotilla is limited, because the flotilla itself does not execute any dynamization of the active tankers. The positive aspect of the flotilla is it may improve performance of the whole search system.