> But the question I would ask is are you actually wasting more space by > storing MD5 hashes than you would be by just remembering the strings in the > first place? Unless your strings are on average longer than 128 bytes (the > size of an MD5 hash) then it will actually be rather more expensive to do > what you're doing than just to store all the strings... Or is there some > reason you can't store the strings?
There is no reason not to store the strings, except that I was a little concerned about memory useage. The number of strings is going to fairly large, so I was hoping for some savings using a hash. Given that the 128 bytes is actually a good sized string, and the possibility for false positives, I think I may go back to storing the actual strings. Thanks for the good overview of GetHashCode. I think I need to up the time I spend with Richter's book. Erick You can read messages from the DOTNET archive, unsubscribe from DOTNET, or subscribe to other DevelopMentor lists at http://discuss.develop.com.
