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3 books on Hash Table Search [PDF]

Updated: Dec 08, 2025 | Author:
If you need to quickly search a large list, you can use a data structure called Hash Table. To do this, you create an array (Hash array), say, with 100 elements and define a function (Hash Function) that calculates an integer number, say, 10 digits (Hash) from any list element. From this hash, you can use modulo division to obtain the array cell number. This cell is then populated with a pointer to the memory location where the element itself resides.

This way, when we need to find an element, we quickly calculate from it the cell number in the array. Accessing an array cell by its number is also a very fast operation. And within the cell, we take the element's address and quickly retrieve it from memory. The complexity is O(1). However, all efficiency depends on the hash function, which should evenly distribute the elements throughout the array. The books explain how to create such hash functions.

Furthermore, a hash function can return the same hash for different elements - "Collision" occurs. In this case, the element that first occupies the array cell stores a pointer to the next element with the same hash. This results in a chain of elements with the same hash, called a Bucket. During a search, if we calculate the hash but find the wrong element in the cell, we take the pointer to the next element in the bucket and follow the chain until we find our element.

A limitation of hash search is that all elements in the list must be unique, so it is typically used for lists with key-value elements.

Here are some PDF books on Hash Table Search:

Handbook of Data Structures and Applications
2004 by Dinesh P. Mehta, Sartaj Sahni


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C++: object-oriented data structures
1994 by Saumyendra Sengupta, Carl P. Korobkin


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Algorithms and Complexity, Volume 1
1990 by Jan Leeuwen


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Author: Maria Lin
Maria Lin, is a seasoned content writer who has contributed to numerous tech portals, including Mashable and bookrunch, as a guest author. She holds a Master's degree in Journalism from the University of California, where her research predominantly concentrated on mobile apps, software, AI and cloud services. With a deep passion for reading, Maria is particularly drawn to the intersection of technology and books, making book tech a subject of great interest to her. During her leisure time, she indulges in her love for cooking and finds solace in a good night's sleep. You can contact Maria Lin via email maria@bookrunch.com