Hash Data Structures

Abstract

In the previous chapter, we looked at trees. Trees are important to understanding some complex topics in computer science, and we will use them going forward. In this chapter, we will look at a data structure that is equally important to the tree. This type of data structure is the hash table. Hash tables utilize hash functions to operate. In computer security in particular, cryptography and checksums rely heavily on hashing. In this chapter, we will look at the basics of hashes, hash functions, and hash tables.