Which collision resolution strategy is generally preferred for hash tables with open addressing when the load factor is low?
Separate Chaining
Double Hashing
Linear Probing
Quadratic Probing
You are implementing an LRU (Least Recently Used) cache. Which data structure, in conjunction with a hashmap, is most suitable for tracking the usage order of cached items?
Binary Tree
Stack
Doubly Linked List
Queue
You need to count the frequency of each word in a large text document. Which combination of data structures would be most efficient for this task?
A binary tree where words are stored in the nodes and their frequencies are stored in the leaves
A hashmap where words are keys and their frequencies are values
A sorted linked list where each node contains a word and its frequency
Two arrays: one for storing words and one for storing their frequencies
What is the primary motivation behind designing hash functions with a uniform distribution property?
To minimize the occurrence of hash collisions and improve efficiency
To maximize the amount of data that can be stored in the hash table
To reduce the memory footprint of the hash table
To simplify the implementation of the hash function itself
You need to identify the first non-repeating character in a string. How can a hashmap be utilized to solve this problem efficiently?
Store the frequency of each character in the hashmap, then iterate through the string and return the first character with a frequency of 1.
Store the characters of the string as keys in the hashmap, and their positions as values. The first character with the lowest position value is the first non-repeating character.
A hashmap cannot be used efficiently for this problem.
Use the hashmap to store the unique characters of the string, then iterate through the hashmap to find the first non-repeating character.
In the context of universal hashing, what makes a family of hash functions 'universal'?
The guarantee of zero collisions for any input set
Its ability to adapt to any data distribution
The property that the probability of collision between any two keys is bounded
Its use of a single, universally applicable hash function
What is a potential drawback of using double hashing for collision resolution compared to linear or quadratic probing?
Requires dynamic memory allocation for linked lists
Not suitable for use with open addressing
Increased computational cost due to the second hash function
Higher risk of primary clustering
What advantage does separate chaining have over open addressing techniques in hash table collision resolution?
Faster search times at high load factors
Handles load factors greater than 1 gracefully
Lower memory overhead
Simpler implementation
Which collision resolution technique involves using a second, independent hash function to compute the probe sequence?
How does an increasing load factor generally impact the performance of a hashmap?
It depends on the specific hash function being used.
It degrades performance due to a higher probability of collisions.
It has no significant impact on performance.
It improves performance by reducing memory usage.