Act as a senior software engineer with 10+ years of experience in data structures and algorithms. Explain step-by-step how to implement a hash table in [LANGUAGE], covering key concepts like [HASH FUNCTION], [COLLISION RESOLUTION], and [LOAD FACTOR]. Provide clear code examples for each step, including how to handle edge cases like [RESIZING THE TABLE] or [HANDLING DUPLICATE KEYS]. Tailor your explanation for a [BEGINNER/INTERMEDIATE/ADVANCED] audience, ensuring the complexity matches their understanding. Include best practices for optimizing performance and memory usage, and compare your implementation to built-in hash tables in [LANGUAGE] or other languages like [COMPARISON_LANGUAGE].