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#### 2.18.4 Deriving a new hash table type

Many uses of hash tables want to store additional information which each entry in the hash table. Some also find it convenient to store additional information with the hash table itself. This may be done using a derived hash table.

Since C is not an object oriented language, creating a derived hash table requires sticking together some boilerplate routines with a few differences specific to the type of hash table you want to create.

An example of a derived hash table is the linker hash table. The structures for this are defined in `bfdlink.h`. The functions are in `linker.c`.

You may also derive a hash table from an already derived hash table. For example, the a.out linker backend code uses a hash table derived from the linker hash table.