That's a weird code! It basically generates the random bits but uses it as a string instead of binary! The computed hash is the hash of that string not exactly the same as using the bits directly. The developed possibly had no idea how to convert bits to bytes and compute that hash 
why does it matter which way you do it, treating it as a string vs a number though? i never seen anyone address that issue, why treating it as a number is better for some unknown reason. sha256 is sha256 whether you do it on a string or a number doesn't really matter.Quote from: o_e_l_e_o
Working in the medical field, I have become acutely familiar over the last 3 years with people who have no medical training, and indeed do not even comprehend just how little they understand, making wild, entirely unsubstantiated, and often downright impossible claims. I have seen it enough, and the dangerous outcomes such a self righteous Dunning-Kruger bias produces, to be alert to recognizing it in myself. I have no formal training or education in cryptography. I don't even have any formal training or education in any of the fields which underpin cryptography, computer science, mathematics, cybersecurity, programming, etc. I know a bit about these things, sure, but I am entirely self taught and I am under no illusion that what I do know barely scratches the surface of these fields. I know enough to know that I don't know nearly enough to start making up my own ad hoc entropy generation schemes.
honestly there is incompetence in every field. no matter what field it is. a paper degree is fine but it doesn't mean someone is 100% competent and should be trusted. that's all I need to say about that. but consider satoshi. maybe he just did bitcoin as a side project and wasn't a "professional cryptographer". still i'd trust him more than someone that all they had is some paper degree with that title that had done nothing in the real world. it seems like the people that get things done in this world are not people that have some little tiny area of expertise but people that know a little bit about alot of things and learn what they need to do get what they need to done. kind of like you.