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What is Sha256 Hash Code?
Sha256 is actaully a cryptographic hash function which acts as a digital fingerprint of any data. The number 256 in it
is actually a fixed 256-bit (64-character when written in hex) string that looks like random gibberish.
In short, you can consider it as a one-way math magic trick that turns any data into a unique, fixed-size blob that proves the data has not been tampered
with. Super useful and basically unbreakable with today's computers.
Read more about sha2 on wikipedia.
Why Sha256 Hash is used?
Even though the hashed version of a data looks toal confusing and unreadable as compared to other format, it has some advantages over others:
like for same input, you will get exactly the same output.
Even if you change just one tiny bit in the input, the output changes completely (looks totally different)
It is almost impossible to reverse-engineer the original data from the hash
It is also basically impossible to find two different files that produce the same hash (called a collision)
That is why stuff like Bitcoin uses SHA-256 for block hashes, why Git uses it to identify commits, why people store password
hashes (not plain passwords) in databases, and why you see it all over SSL certificates, blockchain, file verification, etc.
The reason is quite obvious. It is one of the most secure way to pass data.