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Separate Chaining
In computing, a hash table, also known as hash map, is a data structure that implements an associative array or dictionary. It is an abstract data type that maps keys to values. A hash table uses a hash function to compute an ''index'', also called a ''hash code'', into an array of ''buckets'' or ''slots'', from which the desired value can be found. During lookup, the key is hashed and the resulting hash indicates where the corresponding value is stored. Ideally, the hash function will assign each key to a unique bucket, but most hash table designs employ an imperfect hash function, which might cause hash ''collisions'' where the hash function generates the same index for more than one key. Such collisions are typically accommodated in some way. In a well-dimensioned hash table, the average time complexity for each lookup is independent of the number of elements stored in the table. Many hash table designs also allow arbitrary insertions and deletions of key–value pairs, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Associative Array
In computer science, an associative array, map, symbol table, or dictionary is an abstract data type that stores a collection of (key, value) pairs, such that each possible key appears at most once in the collection. In mathematical terms an associative array is a function with ''finite'' domain. It supports 'lookup', 'remove', and 'insert' operations. The dictionary problem is the classic problem of designing efficient data structures that implement associative arrays. The two major solutions to the dictionary problem are hash tables and search trees..Dietzfelbinger, M., Karlin, A., Mehlhorn, K., Meyer auf der Heide, F., Rohnert, H., and Tarjan, R. E. 1994"Dynamic Perfect Hashing: Upper and Lower Bounds". SIAM J. Comput. 23, 4 (Aug. 1994), 738-761. http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=182370 In some cases it is also possible to solve the problem using directly addressed arrays, binary search trees, or other more specialized structures. Many programming languages include ass ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
