Re: hash question

Thomas Schürger wrote:
>>If I used a digest (128 bit MD5 hash) the record size would double to 24 
>>bytes but losses would be virtually eliminated.  Computing an MD5 for 
>>each term would probably be significantly slower than either 32 or 64 
>>hash as well.
> 
> Using a 64 bit hash key sounds reasonable (in relation to the numer of
> unhashed keys to store). More important would be the use of a good
> hash function which minimizes collisions. Something like taking the
> first 64 bits from the MD5, SHA-1 or RIPEMD160 hashs could be a good
> choice.

I'll have to write a program to experiment with hash collision rates on 
my 2.24 million term database.  I have some free hash code to use 
evahash, FNV, and MD5.  I'll be very interested to see how many 
collisions I get vs. CPU time to compute the hash.

I'm inclined to rework the hash format to use a 64 bit key just as a 
precaution.  Maybe I could offer a choice of either with a little code 
tweaking.

All the best,
++Brian


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