5. Conclusions

This paper has presented some basic ideas, algorithms, and criteria for producing library hash functions. It has shown how the existing hash mechanisms in Java could be improved by employing a better library hash function. Last but not least it has formulated an abstract type for hashing that allows programmers to create new hash values from other primitive hash values and gives them a method to convert hash values to integers for use in table searching and other authentication and validation techniques which employ hashing.

The hash algorithms given here are freely available both from the SAL sketches here, the Java code in the appendix, and C-code in the original publications given in the references. The Java Hash class given in the appendix is copyrighted but I am happy to let anyone use it for non-commercial, non-governmental uses.

6. Acknowledgements

This paper would have taken much longer to create, if I did not have the help and criticism of the following people. Or perhaps, it is more accurate to say this paper would have been finished much earlier without the help and criticism of Paul Eggert, Michael Lennon, Matthew TONG Chi Fai, and Keith Wansbrough. The errors that remain are, of course, still mine.

7. References