An Enhanced Non-Cryptographic Hash Function

Abstract

How to store information for it to be searched and retrieved efficiently is one of the fundamental problems in computer science. There exists sequential search that support operation such as INSERT, DELETE and RETRIVAL in O (n log (n)) expected time in operations. Therefore in many applications where these operations are needed, hashing provides a way to reduce expected time to O (1).There are many different types of hashing algorithms or functions such as cryptographic hash functions, non-cryptographic hash function, checksums and cyclic redundancy checks. Non-cryptographic hash functions (NCHFs) take a string as input and compute an integer output (hash index) representing the position in memory the string is to be stored. The desirable property of a hash function is that the outputs are evenly distributed across the domain of possible outputs, especially for inputs that are similar. Noncryptographic hash functions have an immense number of applications, ranging from compilers and databases to videogames, computer networks, etc. A suitable hash function and strategy must be used for specific applications. This will help efficient use of memory space and access time. The most essential features of non-cryptographic hash functions is its % distribution, number of collisions, performance, % avalanche and quality which are the properties of the hash function. Basing on the properties assessed using a test suite; the results clearly demonstrated that: the proposed hash function that was developed had better properties as compared to other hash functions.