string-hash

string-hash is a minimal npm package that exposes a single function for turning arbitrary strings into a fast, well-distributed unsigned 32-bit integer. The algorithm is a variant of Dan Bernstein’s djb2 hash, adapted to iterate the input backwards and use XOR instead of addition, both of which are small speed wins in JavaScript engines.

With no runtime dependencies and a single 18-line implementation file, it drops into Node.js or browser code with no build step and negligible bundle-size cost, making it a common low-level building block wherever code needs a cheap, deterministic numeric fingerprint for a string rather than cryptographic security.

What You Get

• A single hash(str) function exported as the package’s default CommonJS export
• Deterministic unsigned 32-bit integer output (0 to 4294967295) for any input string
• Zero runtime dependencies and a tiny (18-line) implementation, so it adds negligible weight to a bundle
• Works identically in Node.js and any bundled browser JavaScript environment

Common Use Cases

• Generating stable cache keys or object identifiers from string content
• Bucketing or partitioning data (e.g. consistent sharding, A/B test assignment) by hashing an ID string
• Quick equality/change checks on large strings without storing the full string
• De-duplicating or indexing string values in memory-constrained or performance-sensitive code paths

Under The Hood

Architecture The entire package is a single CommonJS module, index.js, exporting one function with no internal layering, state, or configuration surface — there is no architecture to speak of beyond a tight loop over the input string’s character codes, which is precisely the point: it is a leaf utility meant to be called directly, never extended or subclassed, so nothing breaks downstream if its internals change as long as the hash(str) -> number contract holds.

Tech Stack The implementation targets plain JavaScript with no transpilation, bundler, or type system — package.json declares an empty dependencies object and a single devDependencies entry on mocha for tests, component.json is a leftover manifest for the old Component.js browser-packaging tool, and .travis.yml shows the project was historically tested against Node 6 on Travis CI, all consistent with a small utility published as-is with no build step.

Code Quality Testing is present but minimal: test.js uses Mocha with two assert.equal cases pinning known input strings to known hash outputs, which verifies the algorithm hasn’t regressed but does not cover edge cases like empty strings or non-string input; there is no linter config, no type annotations, and no CI badge beyond the dormant Travis config, reflecting a project frozen since its last 2020 commit rather than one under active quality upkeep.

API Design The public surface is as small as it can be — a single function taking one string argument and returning one unsigned integer, requirable with zero configuration (require("string-hash")) — which makes it trivially easy to adopt but offers no options (e.g. seed value, output width, or algorithm choice) for callers who need more than the one fixed hashing behavior it implements.