Borderline crazy interview question: If hash tables are the most ubiquitous data structs, why HW ISAs give us stacks, and not hash tables?
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Some kinds of hardware (e.g., network processors) have hash tables in hardware (i.e., CAMs). CAMs are really expensive, though.
It's possible to make something like a software hash table in hardware (and I've seen it done), but the performance isn't great.
