Adler-16 checksum for lightweight error detection in embedded systems Uses two 8-bit running sums with modulo 251 for fast error detection.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Category | Checksums |
| Sub-category | Simple Checksum |
| Security status | 🎓 Educational Only |
| Complexity | Beginner |
| Inventor | Mark Adler |
| Year | 1995 |
| Origin | 🇺🇸 United States |
| Source | algorithms/checksum/adler.js |
Status: 🎓 Educational Only
| Issue | Description | Mitigation |
|---|---|---|
| Not Cryptographically Secure | Use cryptographic hash functions (SHA-256, SHA-3) for security purposes | — |
| Weak for Short Messages | Adler checksums can have poor distribution for very short inputs | — |
| Zero Byte Weakness | Sequences of zero bytes can produce predictable patterns | — |
3 vectors ship with this algorithm and run in the test suite. Byte values are hexadecimal.
Vector 1 — Empty string
Source: RFC 1950 style - empty gives base value
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
input |
(empty) |
expected |
0001 |
Vector 2 — Single byte ‘a’
Source: Educational test vector
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
input |
61 |
expected |
6262 |
Vector 3 — String ‘abc’
Source: Educational test vector
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
input |
616263 |
expected |
572c |