Its the distinction between data structure and algorithm that seems to fall apart here. The word hash on its own is used to refer to the output of a hash functi

Its the distinction between data structure and algorithm that seems to fall apart here. The word hash on its own is used to refer to the output of a hash function ("the hash of X is Y") rather than the ADT "dictionary" that they really meant. It appears that you're right though, this may be something extracted from the Ruby community.