Components of Hashing
There are majorly three components of hashing:
- Key: A Key can be anything string or integer which is fed as input in the hash function the technique that determines an index or location for storage of an item in a data structure.
- Hash Function: The hash function receives the input key and returns the index of an element in an array called a hash table. The index is known as the hash index.
- Hash Table: Hash table is a data structure that maps keys to values using a special function called a hash function. Hash stores the data in an associative manner in an array where each data value has its own unique index.
What is Hashing?
Hashing refers to the process of generating a fixed-size output from an input of variable size using the mathematical formulas known as hash functions. This technique determines an index or location for the storage of an item in a data structure.