jdsl.core.api
Interface HashComparator

All Superinterfaces:

EqualityComparator

All Known Implementing Classes:

IntegerHashComparator, ObjectHashComparator

public interface HashComparator

extends EqualityComparator

This interface provides a way of mapping any object in a set to an integer, for purposes of implementing hash tables. It is up to individual implementations to define the set over which they are valid and to reject those objects which they cannot convert by throwing ClassCastExceptions. This interface can be trivially implemented with a call to Object.hashCode(), but it also allows separation of the hashing criterion from the object itself, when that is necessary.

Version:

$Id: HashComparator.java,v 1.3 2000/01/12 03:21:29 mdh Exp $

Author:

Luca Vismara

Method Summary

int	hashValue(java.lang.Object obj) Returns the hash code value to be used for the object in this comparator.

Methods inherited from interface jdsl.core.api.EqualityComparator

isComparable, isEqualTo

Method Detail

hashValue

public int hashValue(java.lang.Object obj)
              throws java.lang.ClassCastException

Returns the hash code value to be used for the object in this comparator.

It is expected that hashValue will return a non-negative integer as the hashcode of the Object, as is the custom for hashcodes. However, there are no unsigned types to force this.

Parameters:

obj - an object acting as a key in a hash table

Returns:

the hash code value of obj

Throws:

java.lang.ClassCastException - if the obj is not a member of the set over which the comparator is defined.