panic(err)
			}
			enc = e
		})
		return enc
	}
	return
}

// EncodeData encodes the given data and returns the erasure-coded data.
// It returns an error if the erasure coding failed.
func (e *Erasure) EncodeData(ctx context.Context, data []byte) ([][]byte, error) {
	if len(data) == 0 {
		return make([][]byte, e.dataBlocks+e.parityBlocks), nil
	}
	encoded, err := e.encoder().Split(data)