A good hash function should distribute keys evenly across the table to minimize collisions. The algorithm is a popular, efficient choice for string keys.
HashTable* create_dict(int size) HashTable *dict = (HashTable*)malloc(sizeof(HashTable)); if (!dict) return NULL; dict->size = size; dict->count = 0; dict->buckets = (Entry**)calloc(size, sizeof(Entry*));
In separate chaining, each bucket of the hash table points to a linked list (or another dynamic data structure) of entries that hash to that index.
We use an array of linked lists (buckets). Each bucket contains all key-value pairs that hash to the same index. This method is simple, handles an arbitrary number of collisions gracefully, and does not require the table to be resized as aggressively as open addressing.