3 ms·

You'd probably want 'return len(str)', if this is Python? In any case, for some applications this is indeed a great hash function. Programs like rmlint use it

by eru 7mo ago

You'd probably want 'return len(str)', if this is Python? In any case, for some applications this is indeed a great hash function. Programs like rmlint use it as part of their checks for duplicate files: if files have different lengths, they can't have the same content after all.

andai 7mo ago
Re: missing return keyword Actually, in Python, None is a valid key... (I'm so sorry. JavaScript has ruined me.)
- tetha 7mo ago
  Any `return c` for some constant is a valid and correct hash function. It just has a lot of collisions and degenerates hash-maps to terrible performance. That was in fact my first thought when I read "simplest hash functions".
- eru 7mo ago
  That's why I said "probably".
Sharlin 7mo ago
Yes, too much Rust :D Eliding the `return` becomes so intuitive after a while that you sort of forget that most other languages require it.
- eru 7mo ago
  Haskell and the Lisps also work like this.
  - Sharlin 7mo ago
    Yes, I know, it's the natural way to do it in functional programming. Honestly I doubt there are any FP languages that don't do it like that.
    - eru 7mo ago
      I like that Rust, just like Lisp and Haskell et al also allow any block to return a value, not just functions. So if-then-else and loops etc can do that. It be nice if Python could do that. Perhaps I should hack up Python to allow that. Would be an interesting little project.