#define SIZE 100000

// 1. hash_function() is a function that return an int

// 2. snowflake_node 
typedef struct snowflake_node {
  int snowflake[6];
  struct snowflake_node *next; 
} snowflake_node;

// 3. main
int main(void) {
  static snowflake_node *snowflakes[SIZE] = {NULL}; 
  snowflake_node *snow;
  int n, i, j, hash_code;

  scanf(“%d”, &n);  
  for (i = 0; i < n; i++) {
    snow = malloc(sizeof(snowflake_node));
    if (snow == NULL) {
      fprintf(stderr, ”malloc errorn”);
      exit(1);
    }  
    for (j = 0; j < 6; j++)
      scanf(“%d”, &snow->snowflake[j]);
  
    hash_code = hash_function(snow->snowflake);
    snow->next = snowflakes[hash_code];

    // 4. This confuses me
    snowflakes[hash_code] = snow;  
  }  

  return 0; 
}

So, I am still trying to grasp how I can implement a Linked List in C. I quite understand that each nodes in a Linked List has a pointer to the next.

What confuses me is that number 4 part. Let’s say that the first Snow has the hash_code of 21. This is going to be pointer to it.

It turns out that the second Snow also has the hash_code of 21. If we apply it to the code :

snowflakes[hash_code] = snow

Does that mean we replace the current Snow with the new one, instead of chaining them all together?