Sha256 Hashes in OpenSCAD

Here’s the translation of the SHA256 hashes example to OpenSCAD:

Our first program will demonstrate how to compute SHA256 hashes. SHA256 hashes are frequently used to compute short identities for binary or text blobs. For example, TLS/SSL certificates use SHA256 to compute a certificate’s signature. Here’s how to compute SHA256 hashes in OpenSCAD.

// OpenSCAD doesn't have built-in cryptographic functions,
// so we'll use a custom module to simulate SHA256 hashing

module sha256(input_string) {
    // This is a placeholder function and does not actually compute SHA256
    // In a real scenario, you would need to implement the SHA256 algorithm
    // or use an external library
    
    echo(str("Input: ", input_string));
    echo(str("SHA256 Hash (simulated): ", 
             "1af1dfa857bf1d8814fe1af8983c18080019922e557f15a8a..."));
}

// Usage example
sha256("sha256 this string");

In this example, we’ve created a module called sha256 that takes a string input. Since OpenSCAD doesn’t have built-in cryptographic functions, this module is just a placeholder that echoes the input and a simulated hash output.

To use this in your OpenSCAD script, you would simply call the sha256 module with your input string:

sha256("sha256 this string");

When you run this script in OpenSCAD, it will output:

ECHO: "Input: sha256 this string"
ECHO: "SHA256 Hash (simulated): 1af1dfa857bf1d8814fe1af8983c18080019922e557f15a8a..."

Please note that this is not a real SHA256 implementation. OpenSCAD is primarily a 3D modeling scripting language and doesn’t have built-in support for cryptographic operations. In a real-world scenario, you would need to implement the SHA256 algorithm yourself or use an external library or tool to perform the actual hashing.

If you need to perform actual cryptographic operations in your workflow, it’s recommended to use a general-purpose programming language with proper cryptographic libraries, and then use the results in your OpenSCAD models if necessary.