NIST

Pearson's hash

(algorithm)

Definition: A hash function that uses an auxiliary array, but no shift or exclusive-or (xor) operations.

Generalization (I am a kind of ...)
hash function.

Note: This hash function may be particularly fast on computers that don't have hardware support for shifting or xor.

Careful choice of the auxiliary table allows construction of a perfect hashing function, a minimal perfect hashing function, or even an order-preserving minimal perfect hashing function.

Author: PEB

Implementation

(C and Python). (Basic).

More information

Peter K. Pearson, Fast Hashing of Variable-Length Text Strings, CACM, 33(6):677-680, June 1990.

Go to the Dictionary of Algorithms and Data Structures home page.

If you have suggestions, corrections, or comments, please get in touch with Paul Black.

Entry modified 3 February 2009.
HTML page formatted Mon Feb 2 13:10:40 2015.

Cite this as:
Paul E. Black, "Pearson's hash", in Dictionary of Algorithms and Data Structures [online], Vreda Pieterse and Paul E. Black, eds. 3 February 2009. (accessed TODAY) Available from: http://www.nist.gov/dads/HTML/pearsonshash.html