Creating a hash from several Java string objects

Question

What would be the fastest and more robust (in terms of uniqueness) way for implementing a method like

public abstract String hash(String[] values);
         


        

Answer 1

Definitely don't use plain addition due to its linearity properties, but you can modify your code just slightly to achieve very good dispersion.

public String hash(String[] values) {
  long result = 17;
  for (String v:values) result = 37*result + v.hashCode();
  return String.valueOf(result);
}