I wanted to understand how SHA-256 works, so I made a terminal animation that shows the bitwise operations at each step. I wrote a text guide in the README.md to explain what's going on. I think my technical terminology is okay.
I'm new to hash functions though, so I don't yet know why SHA-256 has been designed in the way it has (e.g. why exact numbers were chosen in the bitwise rotations).
As far as I understand, the Sigma functions promote diffusion of bits to help prevent collisions, and Choice/Majority/Addition help to make it a one-way function, but I'm not entirely sure. I'd be interested in learning more about the design if anyone has experience in this field.
I'm new to hash functions though, so I don't yet know why SHA-256 has been designed in the way it has (e.g. why exact numbers were chosen in the bitwise rotations).
As far as I understand, the Sigma functions promote diffusion of bits to help prevent collisions, and Choice/Majority/Addition help to make it a one-way function, but I'm not entirely sure. I'd be interested in learning more about the design if anyone has experience in this field.