[Python-Dev] String hash function multiplier

[Jeff Epler]

With -O2 -mcpu=i686 or newer, gcc uses "imul" for both 100003 and 65599,
rather than shifts and adds.

There may be a few people who care about some other processor, but I
wouldn't listen to them. (the only non-x86 CPU I program for on a weekly
basis doesn't have hardware multiply, but it's also much too small for
Python)

The current value goes back a long way:
http://cvs.sourceforge.net/viewcvs.py/python/python/dist/src/Objects/stringobject.c#rev2.31
... all the way back to when Python did string haching instead of
hashing.

Other than some abstract beauty to 65599, are there some other practical
advantages I'm missing?

Jeff