I've been reading a book about data structures and today I read through the chapter on hash tables. I understand the topic well, but the one thing the book didn't really cover is the point to using hash tables. I can't think of any real use where a hash table will be more effective than something else(I do know that hash tables are used later in the book, for things like compression and advanced filing/searching). Maybe I'm missing some of the point of hash tables.