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Is it possible to generate (highly probable) unique Integer from GUIDs?
int i = Guid.NewGuid().GetHashCode(); int j = BitConverter.ToInt32(Guid.NewGuid().ToByteArray(), 0); Which one is better?
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How unique is unique? A GUID is a unique number that can be used as an identifier for anything in the universe, but unlike ISBN there is no central authority - the uniqueness of a GUID relies on the algorthm that was used to generate it.
A GUID (globally unique identifier) is a 128-bit text string that represents an identification (ID). Organizations generate GUIDs when a unique reference number is needed to identify information on a computer or network. A GUID can be used to ID hardware, software, accounts, documents and other items.
The GUID generation algorithm relies on the fact that it has all 16 bytes to use to establish uniqueness, and if you throw away half of it, you lose the uniqueness. There are multiple GUID generation algorithms, but I'll pick one of them for concreteness, specifically the version described in this Internet draft.
Eric Lippert did a very interesting (as always) post about the probability of hash collisions.
You should read it all but he concluded with this very illustrative graphic:
Related to your specific question, I would also go with GetHashCode since collisions will be unavoidable either way.
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