hash
A hash is a chopped-up mixture, like corned beef hash or a hash brown. People also say "hash out" to mean talking through a problem until it is settled.
What a model may hear
- cryptographic digest security and blockchain
- treat the word as a fixed-length fingerprint of data, used to verify integrity or mine coins
- hash table / hash map computer science and programming
- assume a data structure that maps keys to values using a hash function for fast lookup
- fragment identifier web URLs
- read it as the part after # that jumps to a section of a page
- hashtag social media
- parse it as a topic marker prefixed with #
- hash function algorithms
- expect a mathematical function that converts input of any size to a fixed-size value
Where people and models part ways
“make a hash of this document”
Meant: mess it up or summarize it roughly
May be taken as: generate a SHA-256 checksum or scramble it with a hash function
Say instead: “summarize this document informally or mess it up on purpose”
“hash out the details”
Meant: discuss until we agree
May be taken as: attempt to compute hashes of the details or structure them as key-value pairs
Say instead: “discuss the details until we reach agreement”
“add a hash for this topic”
Meant: use a hashtag
May be taken as: generate a cryptographic hash or URL fragment
Say instead: “add a hashtag with the # symbol for this topic”
“put it in the hash”
Meant: mix it into the general pile
May be taken as: insert it into a hash table data structure
Say instead: “include it with the rest of the mixed collection”
Tips
- Say 'hashtag' not 'hash' if you mean the social media symbol
- Specify 'cryptographic hash' or 'checksum' if you want security hashing
- Say 'hash table' or 'dictionary' if you want the programming structure
- Use 'hash out' only for discussion; models rarely confuse this idiom
- Add 'no code' or 'informally' if you want the culinary or messy sense
Often confused with
- hashtag
- specifically the # symbol and social media tag
- checksum
- a hash used only for error detection, not security
- encrypt
- hashing is one-way; encryption is reversible
- map
- a hash map is one implementation of a mapping structure
- fragment
- the # part of a URL, not the function that makes it
- scramble
- no fixed output length or mathematical properties