Hash Tables Study Guide

Definitions and Variations

Definitions

hash table - data structure that uses key or value based lookup system

dictionary problem - searching for an item in a structure; if item is not found, you learn nothing new

hash function - a mapping from input objects to a hash table entry

bucket array - array of data used to store hash table entries, indexed by hash codes (key space)

collision - when two or more elements that are distinct/different have the same hash code

compression function - maps the output of the hash code to an integer in the range 0 to N-1

hash code - an integer that is uniquely determined by the input key

polynomial hash code - accounts for positions (not just presence) of various bits, each bit is the coefficient of a polynomial (use Horner's Rule to evaluate):

$ x_0 a^{n-1} + x_1 a^{n-2} + \dots + x_{n-2} a + x_{n-1} $

cyclic shift hash code - shifts the bits of the 32-bit key representation by X bits (left or right)

immutable - unable to be changed after construction/instantiation; keys must be immutable, or their hash value will change!

division method (compression) - turns the hash code into an integer between 0 and N-1 via the rather unimaginative

$ i \mod N $

MAD (multiply and divide) method (a.k.a. universal hashing) (compression - use the following compression function:

$ (ai + b \mod p ) \mod N $

where p > N and p is prime

collision resolution - rule used to determine what happens when a collision is found

separate chaining - using linked lists as buckets, instead of storing elements in an array directly

load factor - alpha - ratio of number of items N to number of buckets M, cost is proportional to load factor

open addressing - requires load factor is 1, stores elements directly instead of in buckets

linear probing - used with open addressing, collision handling technique in which a full element leads to a neighbor search (deletion becomes tricky, mark removed nodes)

quadratic probing - alternative that provides more desirable properties than linera probing

double hashing - if we hash a key h(k) and the position is occupied, we can use a second hash function to find a new key,

$ h(k) + i \cdot h^{\prime}(k) $