During an engagement, a penetration tester needs to organize network host addresses along with an associated list of services running on specific ports for each host. Which data structure is MOST efficient for mapping this type of related information?
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Sequential arrays where each pair of host addresses and service lists are stored one after the other
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Lists in which host addresses and their corresponding service details are added in order
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Trees with host addresses as root nodes and services as their subsequent branches
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Dictionaries with host addresses as keys paired with value lists detailing services
A dictionary (also known as an associative array or hash map) is the most suitable data structure for mapping related information. It allows for pairing network host addresses (as unique keys) with a list of services (as values associated with each key), which provides quick and direct access to the services based on the host address. Contrarily, an array or a list stores elements sequentially and lacks the direct association features, making them less efficient for quickly accessing related elements. A tree organizes data hierarchically and isn't structured to efficiently handle mapping pairs of related information like network host addresses and services.
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What is a dictionary in programming?
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Can you explain why sequential arrays are less efficient for this case?
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What are the limitations of using trees for mapping host addresses and services?