Hash Table Bid System

Course: CS300 - Data Structures & Algorithms

Author: Justin Guida

Project Overview

This project is a C++ application developed for the CS300 Data Structures course. It implements a hash table to load, store, and manage bid data from a CSV file. The program provides a console-based interface for users to interact with the bid data.

Hash Table Demo

Interactive console demo of the hash table in action:

Prerequisites

Before you begin, ensure you have the following installed on your system:

• A C++ compiler (like GCC or Clang)
• CMake (version 3.25 or higher)
• Make or Ninja build tools

How to Compile and Run

This project includes a simple script to compile and run the application on macOS, Linux, and Windows (with a bash-compatible shell like Git Bash).

Quick Launch (Mac)

Simply double-click scripts/launch.command in Finder to automatically build and run the application.

Using Make

The simplest way to build and run the project:

make        # Build the project
make run    # Build and run
make clean  # Clean build files

Using the run.sh script

Alternatively, use the provided shell script:

./scripts/run.sh

This script will automatically:

• Create a build directory (cmake-build-debug).
• Run CMake to configure the project.
• Compile the source code.
• Launch the application.

Project Structure

HashMapCSVParser/
├── CMakeLists.txt
├── Makefile
├── License.txt
├── README.md
├── src/
│   ├── HashTable.cpp
│   ├── CSVparser.cpp
│   └── CSVparser.hpp
├── data/
│   ├── eBid_Monthly_Sales.csv
│   └── eBid_Monthly_Sales_Dec_2016.csv
└── scripts/
    ├── run.sh            # Build and run script
    └── launch.command    # Double-click to run on Mac

Key Features & Implementation Details

The HashTable.cpp file was the primary focus of this assignment. The following features and improvements were implemented:

• Hash Table with Chaining: A hash table was built from the ground up to store bid information. It uses the chaining method with linked lists to resolve hash collisions, ensuring that multiple items hashing to the same bucket can be stored correctly.

• String-Based Hashing: The hash function uses std::hash<string> to hash alphanumeric bidId keys into bucket indices, allowing flexible support for any string-based identifiers.

• Enhanced User Interface:

  • ANSI Colors: The console menu and output were improved with ANSI color codes to make the interface more readable and user-friendly.
  • User Pause Function: A pauseForUser() function was added to prevent the menu from redisplaying instantly, giving the user time to read output from previous operations.

• Code Quality and Robustness:

  • const Correctness: Function parameters were tightened using const references where appropriate. This improves performance by avoiding unnecessary copies and enhances code safety by preventing accidental modification of data.
  • Input Validation: The main menu loop includes input guards to validate user input, preventing crashes from non-numeric entries and gracefully guiding the user.

• Memory Management: A custom destructor (~HashTable()) was implemented to manually deallocate all dynamically created Node objects, preventing memory leaks when the hash table is destroyed.