/// Constant-time byte-slice equality comparison.
///
/// Returns `true` if `a` and `b` are equal. The comparison time depends only
/// on the length of the shorter slice, never on the position of the first
/// differing byte.
/// Constant-time check whether every byte in `data` is zero.
///
/// Returns `true` only if all bytes are `0x00`. The runtime is proportional
/// to `data.len()`, regardless of the actual content.
/// Constant-time conditional select: returns `a` if `choice` is `0`,
/// or `b` if `choice` is `1`. Any other `choice` value is treated as `1`.