Hash tables are a type of data structure in which the address or the index value of the data element is generated from a hash function. That makes accessing the data faster as the index value behaves as a key for the data value. In other words Hash table stores key-value pairs but the key is generated through a hashing function.
So the search and insertion function of a data element becomes much faster as the key values themselves become the index of the array which stores the data.
In Python, the Dictionary data types represent the implementation of hash tables. The Keys in the dictionary satisfy the following requirements.
The keys of the dictionary are hashable i.e. the are generated by hashing function which generates unique result for each unique value supplied to the hash function.
The order of data elements in a dictionary is not fixed.
Many programming languages does not have an integral/strongly typed data structure, where as programming in C has very well defined ways for maintaining coherence and stability in memory related practices. The flexibility and ease of use gets more attractive with the growing popularity of software and the usage of more advanced programming languages.
This tutorial is aimed at beginners on using hashmap and other key based data structures like their syntax: How do we use them, for what are they good, weak points, their graphical side (drawbacks), or output?
Here is some example code which you can find on Hashmap in Python.