title: Hashing a string to an integer in c++
body: <p>I am trying to figure out the conversion process for strings to ints. We are doing a program with hashing, in which the key value to be hashed is the name of a state. From my research, it seems like atoi() will not work.</p>
  
  <p>Do I need to break each letter of the word down and individually convert? Do I use ASCII? Am I completely going in the wrong direction?</p>
  
  <p>I am very lost, so ANY information would be fantastic. Thanks!</p>