Hashing Questions
The main difference between a hash table and a binary search tree is the way they store and retrieve data.
A hash table uses a hash function to map keys to an index in an array. It stores key-value pairs in this array, allowing for constant-time average case lookup, insertion, and deletion operations. However, hash tables do not maintain any specific order of the keys.
On the other hand, a binary search tree (BST) is a hierarchical data structure that stores key-value pairs in a sorted manner. Each node in the BST has a left and right child, with the left child containing smaller keys and the right child containing larger keys. This allows for efficient searching, insertion, and deletion operations with a time complexity of O(log n) on average. BSTs maintain the keys in a specific order, which can be useful for certain applications.
In summary, the main difference is that hash tables provide constant-time average case operations but do not maintain order, while binary search trees provide efficient operations with a logarithmic time complexity but maintain a specific order.