Hash Functions (checksums, part II?)

On a number of different occasions, I briefly discussed Hash Functions, saying that if a hash function needn’t be very strong if the intend is to use it for look-up, contrary to cryptographic applications. But, unsurprisingly, it’s rather difficult to get a good fast hash function.

Coming up with a very good hash function isn’t easy, but we can at least make an effort to build one by understanding what makes a better hash function, especially by explicitly testing them. Let us have a try at building a good hash function (for look-up) from scratch.

More Blinking Lights (and a disgression)

In Blinking Lights I told you about how I feel the modern computer for its exterior, except for its screen, is boring. When I look at my Antec case, I see a large, silent black box, which, by its very definition, is uninteresting at best. Something like a rock that slowly dissipates heat.

However Bill Buzbee built a computer that has an interesting exterior, and a much more interesting interior: the Magic-1. The Magic-1 is a computer running at 4.something MHz, and is in the same computational power range as the original 8086 4.77 Mhz IBM PC, except with a more advanced instruction set.

The Magic-1 Computer

The 10 (classes of) Algorithms Every Programmer Must Know About

In Tunnels of Doom!, I wrote that the disjoint sets algorithm is one of the very few algorithms every programmer should know. That got me thinking. Should? What about must? If everyone must know about disjoint sets, what other algorithms must every programmer know about?

I made a “top ten” list of algorithms and data structures every programmer must know about.