title: How can I hash a string to an int using c++?
body: <p>I have to write my own hash function. If I wanted to just make the simple hash function that maps each letter in the string to a numerical value (i.e. a=1, b=2, c=3, ...), is there a way I can perform this hash on a string without having to first convert it to a c-string to look at each individual char? Is there a more efficient way of hashing strings?</p>