PySkein 0.7 - The Skein Hash Algorithm for Python

PySkein is an extension module for Python, implementing the Skein hash algorithm, one of the finalists in the NIST SHA-3 Competition. While originally based on the optimized version of the reference implementation by Doug Whiting, PySkein is now feature complete and offers a pythonic interface, all released as free software under the GNU General Public License. Its highlights are:

  • Simple interface following the hash algorithms in the Python standard library (like hashlib.sha1 or hashlib.sha256)
  • All features of the Skein specification (flexible digest sizes, MAC generation, tree hashing, and various other arguments)
  • High performance through optimized C implementation (7.1 cycles/byte for sequential hashing and 4.2 cycles/byte for tree hashing on two cores, measured on an Athlon 64 X2)
  • Threefish, the tweakable block cipher used in Skein, available for encrytion and decryption on its own

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