Page "Hash function" Paragraph 5

Hash functions are related to ( and often confused with ) checksums, check digits, fingerprints, randomization functions, error correcting codes, and cryptographic hash functions.

Although these concepts overlap to some extent, each has its own uses and requirements and is designed and optimized differently.

The HashKeeper database maintained by the American National Drug Intelligence Center, for instance, is more aptly described as a catalog of file fingerprints than of hash values.