AxKit caches generated XML using what it calls "MD5 hashing". I have also seen certain people mention that they cache SQL query results using MD5 hashing. It also turns out that to get PGP installed for Perl you have to get some MD5 modules installed for some reason. All of this leads to these questions
What is MD5 Hashing?
What are its advantages? (and disadvantages)?
What alternative hashing algorithms exist?
EditMasem 2002-02-15 - Closed tag to fix formatting problems.