[IronPython] Copying a cryptographic context

[Sanghyeon Seo]

Python's hash objects can be copied by copy() method. To quote the
library reference, "This can be used to efficiently compute the
digests of strings that share a common initial substring."

http://docs.python.org/lib/module-hashlib.html

I couldn't find any way to copy a cryptographic context encapsulated
by HashAlgorithm instances on .NET framework. I found this curious, as
this is so clearly useful.

Someone suggested that this is same as SSPI(Security Service Provider
Interface), which also doesn't provide any way to copy a cryptographic
context. But this can't be the reason, as .NET framework's SHA*
classes are implemented in the managed code.

Can anyone shed some light?

-- 
Seo Sanghyeon