Hash table

Is it ever possible to have a Hash table that can do get,put,remove @ O(1) for Strings?

calculating the hash for the String alone is O(n), is it not? [that's if you want to produce a good hash that won't collide all over the place]

>>98
ey is probably just using the wrong terms when trying to say that a function needs to be well defined. That is, that f(x) will take on only one value, for each x. An example of a function that is not well defined is the square root function with no convention for sign:

sqrt(x) = y where y^2 = x

both y and -y could be satisfactory outputs for x. So this definition does not uniquely define what values sqrt must take on for all x, and leaves the function not well defined.