HashMap Data Structure: How Elements Are Stored

HashMap uses an array of linked lists to store elements. Each element is stored as a key-value pair in the form of a Node object. The key is used to calculate the hashcode which is used to determine the index of the array where the element is stored. If there are collisions, i.e., two or more elements have the same hashcode, they are stored in the same linked list at that index. This allows for efficient retrieval of elements as the search time is O(1) on average.