Hash??? Not quite clear on what this is...

[John Core]

In article <17291 at netcom.UUCP>, avery at netcom.UUCP (Avery Colter) writes:
> I'm seeing all this talk of "Hash Functions".
> 
> Are you talking about parsing? What is being defined as "hashing"?
> 


a hash is a unique numerical value for a string between a range of
preset values. it can be used for record indexing. On LARGE databases
we would create a hash value (between 1 and our max records) of a 
key and stick the key at that position in a header file with a pointer
to the actual record position of the data file. Programmers are always
searching for better hash routines since there is always a collision 
possibility (two different keys hashing to the same value)





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