Chaining Hash Table Implementation

This repository contains a C++ implementation of a chaining hash table, along with a custom hash function. The hash table is designed to categorize and store string tokens loaded from input files. The project includes sample input cases, testing scripts, and a Makefile for easy compilation and testing.

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• Features
• Usage
• Input Format
• License

Introduction

A chaining hash table is a type of hash table where each bucket (or slot) contains a linked list of elements. It's used to efficiently store and retrieve key-value pairs. In this project, we implement a chaining hash table to categorize and store string tokens based on a custom hash function.

Features

• Implementation of a chaining hash table in C++.
• Custom hash function designed to sort strings into corresponding slots in the hash table.
• Sample input files and test cases provided.
• Makefile for easy compilation and testing.
• Ability to create custom input files and test the robustness of the hash function design.

Usage

To use this implementation, follow these steps:

1. Clone the repository to your local machine.
2. Compile the code using the provided Makefile.
3. Run the program with a specified input file:

./run < testfilename.txt

4. Analyze the output to see the contents of the hash table, slot lengths, and standard deviation.

Input Format

The input file format should adhere to the following rules:

1. The first line specifies the number of hash table slots (k), where 5 <= k <= 100.
2. The following lines consist of one token per line, in upper and lower case letters.
3. There are no duplicate tokens in a single input file.
4. The number of tokens (N) does not exceed 500.

Example (testfilename.txt):

5
Amazon
Boeing
apple
Applebee
abandon
banana
elephant
boring
barbaric

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License.