From: Peter Szinek <peter@...>
Date: 2008-11-12T23:35:08+09:00
Subject: Re: Convert text string i.e 'Peter' into integer ID


On 2008.11.12., at 14:16, Justus Ohlhaver wrote:

> Hello,
>
> is there any method to quickly convert a text string such as 'Peter'
> into an integer? (And vice versa?)


There are a lot of easy ways to do the string -> integer part - e.g.

1) def x(s); return 42; end # now you can call x on your string and it  
will convert it to an integer
2) "Peter"[0]
3) "Peter".object_id
4) "Peter".hash

The integer -> string part is the real problem; it's impossible to do  
it with methods 1) - 3), with some extra effort (storing the result in  
a lookup table)  it should be possible to accomplish it with 4) unless  
you have some extra requirements.

The question is, what do you really want to achieve? What properties  
should the mapping have?

Cheers
Peter