Rob Dixon wrote: > James Edward Gray II wrote: > > On Friday, June 6, 2003, at 03:32 AM, R. Joseph Newton wrote: > > > > > The player's name IS the number. No other numbering system is > > > needed. The players name is NEVER stored in the hash, AFAIK. The > > > name is used to feed a hashing function, which renders an index into > > > the storage of the hash structure. There is found the count-- the > > > ONLY DATA stored for any player/number., > > > > Well, I think we got Stuart sorted out a few days ago, but since you > > bring it up I prefer to think of a hashes as stored pairs, no matter > > what they really are. You could be right about the key not being > > stored, I honestly have no clue. Things like keys() and each() have to > > get it from somewhere though (Reversing the hashing operation? Again, > > no clue.) and since they do exist, it's easier for me to think of them > > as a key and value pair being stored. Of course, this is all just > > opinion and I'm sure other programmers have different views from either > > of us. > > To simplify somewhat, the key string is massaged into a numeric value > called the 'hash value'. This value determines where in the internal > structure the data element is stored. Each entry consists of three > items: the hash element's key string and value, and the computed 'hash > value'. > > To locate an element from a given hash key, the 'hash value' is > calculated, and the area of storage which this indicates is > searched for an entry with a matching key string. > > In short: yes, the hash element does keep a copy of the key string > internally. > > HTH, > > Rob
Hi Rob, Thanks for the clarification. I must admit I was a bit over the top in that statement. I was just trying to break that linkage that the OP seems to see between the hash and low-level index chasing in arrays. It is also good to get confirmation that the Perl hash is indeed a hash in the general algorithmic sense, also. I must confess that I have been pretty much just running on that assumption without any firm confirmation of that from the docs. Joseph -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
