src/org/jsecurity/crypto/hash/Hash.java

/*
 * Copyright 2005-2008 Les Hazlewood
 *
 * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
 * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
 * You may obtain a copy of the License at
 *
 *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
 *
 * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
 * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
 * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
 * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 * limitations under the License.
 */
package org.jsecurity.crypto.hash;

/**
 * A Cryptoraphic <tt>Hash</tt> represents a one-way conversion algorithm that transforms an input source to an underlying
 * byte array.
 *
 * @see AbstractHash
 * @see Md2Hash
 * @see Md5Hash
 * @see Sha1Hash
 * @see Sha256Hash
 * @see Sha384Hash
 * @see Sha512Hash
 *
 * @author Les Hazlewood
 * @since 0.9
 */
public interface Hash {

    /**
     * Returns this Hash's byte array, that is, the hashed value of the original input source.
     * @return this Hash's byte array, that is, the hashed value of the original input source.
     * @see #toHex
     * @see #toBase64
     */
    byte[] getBytes();

    /**
     * Returns a Hex encoding of this Hash's {@link #getBytes byte array}.
     * @return a Hex encoding of this Hash's {@link #getBytes byte array}.
     */
    String toHex();

    /**
     * Returns a Base64 encoding of this Hash's {@link #getBytes byte array}.
     * @return a Base64 encoding of this Hash's {@link #getBytes byte array}.
     */
    String toBase64();
}