item distinguished by some "key" into one of a number of
possible "hash buckets" in a hash table. The hash function is
usually combined with another more precise function.
For example a program might take a string of letters and put
it in one of twenty six lists depending on its first letter.
Ideally, a hash function should distribute items evenly
If, for example, the strings were names beginning with "Mr.",
"Miss" or "Mrs." then taking the first letter would be a very
poor hash function because all names would hash the same.
(1997-08-03)