I know how to hash things in programs, despite the fact that the applications of hashing got like two weeks of coverage total in my almost-six years of comp sci study. Therefore, every time I’m sweating a bad O(n^2) algorithm and suddenly realize that I can use hashing to significantly reduce its average-case complexity, I feel like some kind of mighty computer genius. But I’m not. I just know how to hash things.
Possibly the reason I feel this way is that nobody else with whom I’m working on said algorithms–including my professors–seems to understand what I’m talking about, like most of you right now.