Functions for dealing with bilinear pairing parameters begin with pairing_.

Functions for operating on elements of groups, rings and fields begin with element_.

Functions that generate pairing parameters, that is, find elliptic curves where efficiently computable bilinear pairings exist. The sample parameters bundled are adequate for many cryptosystems, but there may be a need to generate more.

Miscellaneous functions, such as ones controlling how random bits are generated.

Auxiliary functions that work on abstract data types such dynamic arrays and symbol tables mostly used internally by PBC, but may have some use in applications.