AI engineering glossary · Data structures algorithms
What is separate chaining?
Separate chaining (also called chaining): A method of handling collisions where each slot of a hash table holds a small list of all entries that map to it. Lookup hashes to a slot, then searches that short list.
Separate chaining: an example
If keys 'a' and 'q' both map to slot 2, slot 2 stores a list with both, and a lookup compares the key against each entry in that list.
Related terms
More Data structures algorithms terms
- Shortest path
- Sliding window
- Sorting
- Space complexity
- Space-time trade-off
- Stable sort
- String matching
- Tabulation
Where you learn it
Separate chaining is part of the AI Engineering Program, which teaches it with notes, a hands-on lab and an exam. The first lesson is free.