How do I calculate a good hash code for a list of strings?

Question

Background:

• I have a short list of strings.
• The number of strings is not always the same, but are nearly always of the order of a “handful”
• I

Answer 1

Standard java practise, is to simply write

final int prime = 31;
int result = 1;
for( String s : strings )
{
    result = result * prime + s.hashCode();
}
// result is the hashcode.