May 30 2009
Hash functions (MD5, SHA, Ripemd)
Hash functions (e.g. SHA, Ripemd, MD5, Tiger or Whirlpool) are functions which converts a large data into a small datum (usually an integer). Values returned by a hash function are called hash sums, hash values or simply hashes.
You should use hash functions if you want to store passwords in a database (for this programmers use cryptographic hash functions such as SHA, MD5, Whirlpool, Ripemd or Tiger), speed up table lookup or for data comaprison tasks. If you want to use hash functions you can use build in functions (such as md5() and sha() in the PHP) or go to site with online generators, where you can find mostly used algorithms.