[Python-Dev] Fast Implementation for ZIP decryption

[Nick Coghlan]

exarkun at twistedmatrix.com wrote:
> Given that the use case is "protect my biology homework from my little
> brother", how fast does the implementation really need to be?  Is
> speeding it up from 0.1 seconds to 0.001 seconds worth the potential new
> problems that come with more C code (more code to maintain, less
> portability to other runtimes, potential for interpreter crashes or even
> arbitrary code execution vulnerabilities from specially crafted files)?

Also, if the use case is just protecting stuff from a sibling or your
childen, use an archiving program to zip/extract it :)

So -1 here as well. Any added C code has a real cost for the reasons
Jean-Paul listed, so it should only be used in cases where there's a
major practical benefit to the speed-up. Faster execution of a
problematic algorithm that is already well implemented by plenty of
other applications doesn't qualify in my book (even if the speedup is by
a couple of orders of magnitude).

Cheers,
Nick.

-- 
Nick Coghlan   |   ncoghlan at gmail.com   |   Brisbane, Australia
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