Which of the following is a drawback of using separate chaining for co...
Separate chaining requires additional memory to store linked lists for collisions, leading to increased memory usage compared to open addressing.
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Which of the following is a drawback of using separate chaining for co...
Increased memory usage due to linked lists:
When using separate chaining for collision resolution in a hashmap, each bucket that experiences a collision will store the collided elements in a linked list. This means that for each collision, a new node will be created and added to the linked list. As a result, the memory usage of the hashmap increases as more collisions occur and more nodes are added to the linked lists.
Explanation:
Here is a detailed explanation of why increased memory usage occurs when using separate chaining for collision resolution:
- Collision Resolution: In a hashmap, collisions occur when two or more elements are mapped to the same index in the underlying array. This can happen due to the finite size of the array and the potentially infinite number of elements that can be inserted into the hashmap.
- Separate Chaining: One way to resolve collisions is by using separate chaining. In this method, each bucket in the underlying array of the hashmap is implemented as a linked list. When a collision occurs, the collided element is added to the linked list at the corresponding bucket index.
- Increased Memory Usage: As more collisions occur, more elements are added to the linked lists. Each element is stored in a node that contains the value and a reference to the next node in the list. This means that for each collision, a new node is created and added to the linked list.
- For example, if there are n collisions in a hashmap, n nodes will be created and stored in the linked lists. These nodes consume additional memory compared to a situation where there are no collisions.
- Impact on Memory: The increased memory usage due to linked lists can become significant when there are a large number of collisions in the hashmap. This can lead to higher memory requirements and potentially impact the performance of the application.
Conclusion:
Using separate chaining for collision resolution in a hashmap can lead to increased memory usage due to the creation of linked lists to store collided elements. This drawback should be considered when choosing the collision resolution method for a hashmap, especially in situations where memory usage is a concern.