phalanx # parallel hash alternative Files

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This is the README file for PHAlanx (the Parallel Hash Alternative)
as released by <botao.org>

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For the impatient:

=> 'PHA' computes a digest of many buffers simultaneously,
and produces a combined hash of them all.

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Now the gory, itchy, whimsical details...

+ PHA is an attempt to provide a fast, simple, portable alternative method
to compute a checksum in a parallel fashion.

+ PHA has options for i/o buffer size, hash width, number of threads, and more.

+ PHA can be run single-threadedly - for performance comparisons.

+ PHA can check files against previsously saved sums, like `MD5sum' does.

It also has a 'demo' mode, to ascertain accurate operation.

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* PHA is intended to be useful on large files;

- for small strings, passwords, files under a few KBs,
  or things like "a million 'a's", use MD5 or SHA instead.

* PHA is meant for multicore/multiprocessor/multithreaded environments;
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________________
        Jul'2012
Alexandre  Botao
http://botao.org