At 00:47 07.03.01 +0900, Dave Thomas wrote:
>Tammo Freese <tammo.freese / offis.de> writes:
>
>> Can you tell me how to figure out the result of the following code
>> easily without looking at variable a and without thinking about
>> the hashing strategy?
>
>No, because hashes are unordered.
>
>> Or is the morale that I should not invert hashes with equal values
>> because the results are too difficult to predict?
>
>I guess it depends on the result you want. There are circumstances
>where inverting a hash is a useful thing to be able to to, and others
>where it might not make too much sense. You'll need to make a decision 
>based on your own application.

Is there any case where inverting a hash that is not one-to-one
makes sense? (You cannot know the result!)

If not, wouldn't it be more convenient to throw an exception when someone
is trying to invert such a hash?



-
Tammo Freese
freese / acm.org