Separate Chaining
The idea behind separate chaining is to implement the array as a linked list called a chain.
The linked list data structure is used to implement this technique. So what happens is, when multiple elements are hashed into the same slot index, then these elements are inserted into a singly-linked list which is known as a chain.
Here, all those elements that hash into the same slot index are inserted into a linked list. Now, we can use a key K to search in the linked list by just linearly traversing. If the intrinsic key for any entry is equal to K then it means that we have found our entry. If we have reached the end of the linked list and yet we haven’t found our entry then it means that the entry does not exist. Hence, the conclusion is that in separate chaining, if two different elements have the same hash value then we store both the elements in the same linked list one after the other.
Example: Let us consider a simple hash function as “key mod 5” and a sequence of keys as 12, 22, 15, 25
You can refer to the following link in order to understand how to implement separate chaining with C++.
C++ program for hashing with chaining
Separate Chaining Collision Handling Technique in Hashing
Separate Chaining is a collision handling technique. Separate chaining is one of the most popular and commonly used techniques in order to handle collisions. In this article, we will discuss about what is Separate Chain collision handling technique, its advantages, disadvantages, etc.