| Hash Functions |
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| • | Hash
functions typically operate on search keys |
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| that
are integers. |
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| • | It
doesn't mean that you can't search for a |
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| character
or for a string...but what it means is that |
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| we
need to map our search keys to integers |
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| before
performing the hashing operation. This |
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| keeps
it as simple as possible |
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| • | But,
be careful how you form the hash functions |
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| – | your
goal should be to keep the number of |
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| collisions
to a minimum and avoid clustering |
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| of
data |
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