How to generate a unique hash for a collection of objects independent of their order

Question

Let's say I have a class

public class MyClass
{
    public string Type { get; set; }
    public int Id { get; set; }
}

and I have a collection class that is simply a strongly typed List

public class MyClassList : List<MyClass>
{
    public MyClassList(IEnumerable<MyClass> enumerable) : base (enumerable) {}
}

I want MyClassList to be able to generate a unique hash-code for MyClassList based on the contents. The hash-code of MyClass should be based on both properties. The hash-code of MyClassList should be the same even if the order of the objects is different.

To handle the ordering issue I was thinking I could order the list before generating the hash-code, but I'm not sure how to generate the hash-code of the list.

Answer 1

For optimal performance I would try to avoid iterating the whole collection every time GetHashCode is called. The purpose of GetHashCode is to improve performance to a point better than evaluating every element. So I might try maintaining the hash code when elements in the list are changed like this.

class Program
{
  static void Main(string[] args)
  {
     MyClassList l = new MyClassList() { new MyClass() {Type="Bob", Id=1}, new MyClass() {Type="Jones", Id=2}};
     MyClassList l2 = new MyClassList() { new MyClass() { Type = "Jones", Id = 2 }, new MyClass() { Type = "Bob", Id = 1 } };
     MyClassList l3 = new MyClassList() { new MyClass() { Type = "Jones", Id = 2 }};
     Console.WriteLine("{0} {1} {2}", l.GetHashCode(), l2.GetHashCode(), l3.GetHashCode());
     l3.Add(new MyClass() { Type = "Bob", Id = 1 });
     Console.WriteLine("{0}", l3.GetHashCode());
  }
}

public class MyClass
{
  public string Type { get; set; }
  public int Id { get; set; }
  public override int GetHashCode()
  {
     return (Type.GetHashCode() % 0x8000) | (int)((uint)Id.GetHashCode() & 0xFFFF0000);
  }
}

public class MyClassList : IList<MyClass>
{
  List<MyClass> internalList;
  int hashCode = 0;

  public MyClassList()
  {
     internalList = new List<MyClass>();
  }

  private void IncludeInHash(MyClass item)
  {
     hashCode ^= item.GetHashCode();
  }

  private void ExcludeFromHash(MyClass item)
  {
     IncludeInHash(item);
  }

  public override int GetHashCode()
  {
     return hashCode;
  }

  public int IndexOf(MyClass item)
  {
     return internalList.IndexOf(item);
  }

  public void Insert(int index, MyClass item)
  {
     internalList.Insert(index, item);
     // Make sure Insert is successful (doesn't throw an exception) before affecting the hash
     IncludeInHash(item);
  }

  public void RemoveAt(int index)
  {
     MyClass reduce = internalList[index];
     internalList.RemoveAt(index);
     // Make sure RemoveAt is successful before affecting the hash
     ExcludeFromHash(reduce);
  }

  public MyClass this[int index]
  {
     get
     {
        return internalList[index];
     }
     set
     {
        MyClass reduce = internalList[index];
        internalList[index] = value;
        // Make sure these happen atomically; don't allow exceptions to prevent these from being accurate.
        ExcludeFromHash(reduce);
        IncludeInHash(value);
     }
  }

  public void Add(MyClass item)
  {
     internalList.Add(item);
     IncludeInHash(item);
  }

  public void Clear()
  {
     internalList.Clear();
     hashCode = 0;
  }

  public bool Contains(MyClass item)
  {
     return internalList.Contains(item);
  }

  public void CopyTo(MyClass[] array, int arrayIndex)
  {
     internalList.CopyTo(array, arrayIndex);
  }

  public int Count
  {
     get { return internalList.Count; }
  }

  public bool IsReadOnly
  {
     get { return false; }
  }

  public bool Remove(MyClass item)
  {
     if (internalList.Remove(item))
     {
        ExcludeFromHash(item);
        return true;
     }
     else
        return false;
  }

  public IEnumerator<MyClass> GetEnumerator()
  {
     return internalList.AsReadOnly().GetEnumerator();
  }

  System.Collections.IEnumerator System.Collections.IEnumerable.GetEnumerator()
  {
     return GetEnumerator();
  }
}