If you've ever wanted to know how something in the .NET Framework does what it does, check out .NET Reflector. This awesome utility will reverse engineer compiled .NET dlls back into C# or VB.NET code. The example below is the reverse-engineered implementation for
String.GetHashCode:
public override unsafe int GetHashCode()
{
fixed (char* text1 = ((char*) this))
{
char* chPtr1 = text1;
int num1 = 0x15051505;
int num2 = num1;
int* numPtr1 = (int*) chPtr1;
for (int num3 = this.Length; num3 > 0; num3 -= 4)
{
num1 = (((num1 << 5) + num1) + (num1 >&Gt 0x1b)) ^ numPtr1[0];
if (num3 <= 2)
{
break;
}
num2 = (((num2 << 5) + num2) + (num2 >> 0x1b)) ^ numPtr1[1];
numPtr1 += 2;
}
return (num1 + (num2 * 0x5d588b65));
}
}
For more information about Lutz Roeder's .NET Reflector, see the .NET Reflector site.