为什么哈希函数返回size_t，如何使用它？

/* Fowler / Noll / Vo (FNV) Hash */
static const size_t InitialFNV = 2166136261U;
static const size_t FNVMultiple = 16777619;
size_t myhash(const string &s, int length)
{
    size_t hash = InitialFNV;
    for(size_t i = 0; i < length; i++)
    {
        //XOR the lower 8 bits
        hash = hash ^ (s[i]);

        //Multiply by the multiple
        hash = hash * FNVMultiple;
    }
    return hash;
}

store()

for

while

size_t

const string &s

string

strlen

NULL

std::string