Step 1 Input username
Pick a username from our messaging example.Click a username to hash it. Try dog, tea and cab to see a collision.
These same sample users drive the demo. Tap any username to trace its path.
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Where are hash tables used?
Imagine a messaging app that needs to quickly find a user's profile from their username. The app can store data in a hash table where:
- the key is the username (like
"dog") - the value is the data you care about (display name, avatar, preferences)
- the hash function (letters to numbers -> sum -> mod 10) turns the username into an array index
Step 2 Hashing function
There are many hashing functions which could be used. A hashing function turns any input into a fixed sized output. In this example, we convert each letter to a number, add them up, then take the last digit (mod 10) as output.→
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