Visual Hash Turns Text Or Data Into Abstract Art 86
Makoss writes "Normal cryptographic hash functions turn any input text or data into a compact set of bits; useful for computers, not useful for humans. Visual hash functions turn data into graphical representations which are more easily recognizable and memorable to humans. You've seen Identicons and other simple geometric image generators already, but Vash takes the technique beyond basic geometry and produces some really striking images."
Re:Pretty but... (Score:4, Informative)
(Why the readme file is README.md, I can't guess.)
After downloading and reading bits of the docs (but not the code), it appears that it hashes the data you give it (SHA-1 or MD5) and builds the graphic based on the hash.
(You specify the hashing algorithm by a parameter, and, no, they don't recommend the parameter that specifies MD5. I didn't read far enough to guess as to why the parameter is not the name of the algorithm.)
So, since it appears that not every geek here is familiar with hashing (Huh?), I'll point out the obvious: The hash does not give enough information to reproduce the original data. (But what about very short inputs, like passwords, which they, erm, suggest?) Also, since the hash is cryptographically hard, reversing it is rather difficult even if you can afford to search through the pseudo-reversion set.
Re:looks to be suffering from graphic repetition (Score:3, Informative)
It's amazing how many Mii's one can recognize and remember. Use 2 different hashes and generate a male, female pair.
Have you seen RoboHash [robohash.org]? It works along the same lines, only with robots.