"Hashing" Pronounce,Meaning And Examples

"Hashing" Meaning

Hashing is a cryptographic process used to transform a variable-length input (e.g. a password or a piece of data) into a fixed-length output (known as a hash) that represents the input's digest. This output is unique to the input and acts as a digital fingerprint. Hashing is used for various purposes such as data integrity checking, data authentication, and password storage.

"Hashing" Examples

Hashing

Hashing is a cryptographic technique used to map data of any size to a fixed-size string of characters, known as a hash value.

Examples:

1. Password Storage: When you create an account, your password is hashed using a hashing algorithm like bcrypt, and the resulting hash value is stored in the database. This way, even if the database is compromised, the actual passwords remain secure.
md
// Store password as hash value
.hash(password); // Output: a fixed-size string of characters

2. Digital Signatures: Hashing is used to create a digital signature for a message or document. The message is hashed, and the resulting hash value is signed using the sender's private key. The recipient verifies the signature by re-hashing the message and comparing it to the received signature.
md
// Create digital signature
exampleMessage "Hello, World!";
hashedMessage .hash(exampleMessage); // Output: a fixed-size string of characters
signature sign(hashedMessage, privateKey);

3. Data Integrity: Hashing can be used to verify the integrity of data during transmission. The sender hashes the data, and the receiver hashes the received data. If the two hash values match, the data is considered valid and unmodified.
md
// Verify data integrity
originalData ...;
hashedData .hash(originalData); // Output: a fixed-size string of characters
receivedData ...;
receivedHashedData .hash(receivedData); // Output: a fixed-size string of characters
if (hashedData receivedHashedData) {
console.log("Data is valid and unmodified.");
} else {
console.log("Data is corrupted or tampered with.");
}

4. Hash Tables: In computer science, hashing is used to implement hash tables. A hash table is a data structure that maps keys to values using a hash function. This allows for fast lookups and insertions of key-value pairs.
md
// Create a hash table
hashTable {};
hashTable[key1] value1;
hashTable[key2] value2;
// ...

5. Verifying File Integrity: Hashing can be used to verify the integrity of files. A file's hash value is calculated, and the resulting value is stored alongside the file. Later, when the file is retrieved, its hash value is recalculated and compared to the stored value. If the two values match, the file