What is a potential drawback of using double hashing for collision resolution compared to linear or quadratic probing?
Increased computational cost due to the second hash function
Requires dynamic memory allocation for linked lists
Not suitable for use with open addressing
Higher risk of primary clustering
How does the choice of a hash function impact the performance of a hashmap?
A complex hash function guarantees a lower collision rate, improving performance.
A simple hash function is always preferred as it reduces computational overhead.
A well-chosen hash function minimizes collisions, leading to faster lookups and insertions.
The hash function has a negligible impact on performance compared to the data structure itself.
When choosing a collision resolution strategy for a hash table, which factors are essential to consider?
Expected data distribution and load factor
Programming language and hardware architecture
All of the above
Size of the keys and values being stored
What is the primary advantage of using a hashmap over a simple array for storing and retrieving data?
Hashmaps maintain data in sorted order, unlike arrays.
Hashmaps can store duplicate keys, while arrays cannot.
Hashmaps provide faster access to data based on a key, while arrays require linear search in some cases.
Hashmaps use less memory than arrays.
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?
Doubly Linked List
Stack
Binary Tree
Queue
What is a significant disadvantage of using a fixed-size hash table in conjunction with a hash function prone to collisions?
Complexity in implementing the hash function itself
Inability to store data that exceeds the pre-defined table size
Increased memory usage due to the fixed size allocation
Degraded performance due to chaining or open addressing for collision resolution
In the context of hash functions, what does the avalanche effect refer to?
A small change in input causing a significant change in output
Gradual degradation of hash performance over time
Increased likelihood of hash collisions with larger datasets
Uneven distribution of keys within the hash table
In a web server, which scenario is best suited for using a hashmap to optimize performance?
Storing and retrieving user session data
Storing and retrieving static website content like images and CSS files
Maintaining a log of all incoming requests in chronological order
Managing the order of user connections to ensure fairness
How does an increasing load factor generally impact the performance of a hashmap?
It improves performance by reducing memory usage.
It degrades performance due to a higher probability of collisions.
It has no significant impact on performance.
It depends on the specific hash function being used.
What is the significance of the output size of a cryptographic hash function?
Affects the uniqueness of the hash for different inputs
Impacts the resistance against brute-force attacks
Influences the memory required to store the hash function
Determines the speed of hash computation