STANDARD TABLES internal linear index table access : using index or key key is always non-unique

standard tables can always be filled very quickly,

SORTED TABLES internal index exists table access : using index or key key can either be unique or non-unique

since the system does not have to check whether there are already existing entries. linear search
The response time for key access is proportional to

the number of entries in the table

You cannot specify a unique key

binary search The response time for key access is logarithmically proportional to the number of table entries
When you define the table, you must specify

whether the key is to be unique or not

HASHED TABLES no index table access : using key only key is always unique

hash algorithm

The response time is constant independent of number of entries

When you define the table, you must specify the key as UNIQUE.