[ZODB-Dev] crypto hash as key for BTrees

[Tim Peters]

[John Belmonte]
> While I'm in ZODB question mode-- I vaguely remember some mention on
> the list about this before, but what is the best way

"Best" depends on your goals -- I really can't guess.

> to use a crypto hash (for example, 160-bits of data) as a key for
> a BTree container?  The options seem to be:
>
>      * OOTree with key as binary string

Most compact, hard for humans to read.

>      * OOTree with key as encoded string (hex, base64, etc.)

Bigger than necessary, easy for humans to read.

>      * IOBTree with key as number (does IOBTree support large
> integers?)

Not an option:  "I" means a Python short int, which is the same as the
platform C long int type.  OOBTree with key as number (where the key is a
Python (unbounded) long int) is a possiblity, though.