Question

what are keys and values in a hash table ?

Answer 1

Straightforward answer: Key are associated with values. http://xlinux.nist.gov/dads/HTML/dictionary.html

Simple answer: You have a bunch of data (lets say my data are: cupcake, nutella, and puppies) and you want to retrieve them using another form of data (lets say: food and pet).

That other form of data are keys, think of them as categories (you can find cupcakes and nutella at the "food" store; you can find puppies at the "pet" store). So you can group a bunch of data (values) with a single category (a key).

In practical computer sciency terms, you can use keys "to sort customer records alphabetically" using the first letter in their last name (which is the key) and then moving on to their "given names." http://xlinux.nist.gov/dads/HTML/key.html

Answer 2

Thank you ! :)