Python - hash with md5 and sha1 (and others!)

# There a many reasons to hash data. 
# For this example we'll say that we 
# want to has passwords so we can store 
# them in a database (or file)...or for 
# this example a variable 
 
# hashlib encapsulates the following functionality: 
#   md5 
#   sha1 
#   sha224 
#   sha256 
#   sha384 
#   sha512 
import hashlib
 
# When a user creates their account they'll input 
# a password.  For security purposes you hash 
# the password and store it (so they can log into 
# their account later). 
password = "$uperP@a$$w0rd" 
 
#pass the password to the sha1 constructor 
createSha1 = hashlib.sha1(password)
 
#dump the password out in text 
sha1_password = createSha1.hexdigest()
 
print sha1_password
#output: 
# 2d0b537e6673e1f6baf1c462cd4922dab32ee243 
 
# You'll notice that sha1 creates a 40 character hash. 
# All hashed strings (regardless of original size) will 
# be represented by sha1 as 40 characters. 
print len(sha1_password)
#output: 
# 40 
 
# You can store that hashed password and then later the 
# user will attempt to login.  Take their password and hash 
# it with the same algorithm (sha1 in our example). 
password_attempt_1 = "superP@a$$w0rd" 
password_attempt_2 = "$up3rP@a$$w0rd" 
password_attempt_3 = "$uperP@a$$w0rd" 
 
#take the attempts and hash them so you can compare passwords 
attempt1 = hashlib.sha1(password_attempt_1)
if sha1_password == attempt1.hexdigest():
    print "password attempt 1 is a success" 
else:
    print "password attempt 1 is a failure" 
 
attempt2 = hashlib.sha1(password_attempt_2)
if sha1_password == attempt2.hexdigest():
    print "password attempt 2 is a success" 
else:
    print "password attempt 2 is a failure" 
 
attempt3 = hashlib.sha1(password_attempt_3)
if sha1_password == attempt3.hexdigest():
    print "password attempt 3 is a success" 
else:
    print "password attempt 3 is a failure" 
 
#output: 
#    password attempt 1 is a failure 
#    password attempt 2 is a failure 
#    password attempt 3 is a success 
 
 
# Now that you understand how to use sha1 you 
# understand how to use all of the supported 
# algorithms in hashlib.  They all use the same 
# methods so you can easily adapt your code to 
# any of the hash types. 
# Check out the python docs for hashlib