what is hashing and when do you use it

Question

Its different then regular encryption right?

In: Technology

Answer 1

Hashing is the process of turning an arbitrary input to a structured output, usually with fixed length. For example, a function that takes some text (of any length) and maps it to a 3 digit number is a hash function. Many such hashes exist, some are better and some are worse.

Hashing is entirely different from encryption/cryptography etc. but is somewhat related. Many aspects of cryptography uses hashes (and properties of good hashes) to ensure security.