Re: MD5 Hash as Number?

From: William Stacey [MVP] (staceyw_at_mvps.org)
Date: 10/07/05 

Date: Thu, 6 Oct 2005 18:31:30 -0400

I have used the BigInteger class in Mono before and just added as a class to
my project for something similar. 

-- 
William Stacey [MVP]
"Michel Gallant" <neutron@istar.ca> wrote in message 
news:u2Z1ELsyFHA.3312@TK2MSFTNGP09.phx.gbl...
> What's wrong with the 32 char hex-encoded string?
> In Win32, the maximum size character is unsigned __int64
> (unsigned 8 byte integer).  You need a 16 byte number, if
> you wish to simply store MD5 as a "number".
>
> In .NET the System.Decimal class, while 128 bit, does not provide
> the full range you need and it not intended for the purpose you ask about.
>
> You can always use the J#.net classes (BigInteger specifically) which
> implements arbitrary size integers, but then your clients need both .NET 
> 1.1
> runtime AND the J# redistributable.
>
> - Mitch Gallant
>  www.jensign.com
>
> "Darren Green" <darren.green@reply-to-newsgroup-sqldts.com> wrote in 
> message news:O6hrd0ryFHA.3256@TK2MSFTNGP09.phx.gbl...
>> Hi,
>>
>> I have an MD5 hash, all 16 bytes of it, and I would like to store this as 
>> a number as opposed to a byte array or the conventional 32 character hex 
>> encoded string. Any ideas or am I way off course?
>>
>> Thanks
>>
>>
>> -- 
>> Darren Green
>
>