SORTABLE HASH TABLE

A method for providing symbolic access to a plurality of objects stored in a data storage is provided. An associative array comprising a plurality of associative array keys and a plurality of associative array values may be generated. A data array comprising a plurality of data array elements may be generated, such that each object stores a sortable property value of the object and an original offset of the object. A mapping table to map original offsets to modified offsets is generated. The mapping table includes a plurality of mapping table elements, and each associative array value is used as an offset into the mapping table, and each mapping table element storing a modified offset, each modified offset is a numeric value used as an offset into the data array.