Hash Tables

• Data structure associates key with data item via a hash function, H, that maps some portion of data item to (nearly) unique key

  • E.g. T( ) = the eval of this board position

• Supports insertion, deletion, retrieval

• Best case: all operations are O(1) (hash function must map each key to unique cell)

• Worst case depends on collision resolution policy (e.g. ordered linked-list = O(n))

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