Module advent_solutions::advent2017::day10

Day 10: Knot Hash

You come across some programs that are trying to implement a software emulation of a hash based on knot-tying. The hash these programs are implementing isn't very strong, but you decide to help them anyway. You make a mental note to remind the Elves later not to invent their own cryptographic functions.

This hash function simulates tying a knot in a circle of string with 256 marks on it. Based on the input to be hashed, the function repeatedly selects a span of string, brings the ends together, and gives the span a half-twist to reverse the order of the marks within it. After doing this many times, the order of the marks is used to build the resulting hash.

      4--5   pinch   4  5           4   1
     /    \  5,0,1  / \/ \  twist  / \ / \
    3      0  -->  3      0  -->  3   X   0
     \    /         \ /\ /         \ / \ /
      2--1           2  1           2   5

See knot_hash

Functions

parse_input
part1	However, you should instead use the standard list size of 256 (with values 0 to 255) and the sequence of lengths in your puzzle input. Once this process is complete, what is the result of multiplying the first two numbers in the list?
part2	Finally, the standard way to represent a Knot Hash is as a single hexadecimal string; the final output is the dense hash in hexadecimal notation. Because each number in your dense hash will be between 0 and 255 (inclusive), always represent each number as two hexadecimal digits (including a leading zero as necessary). So, if your first three numbers are 64, 7, 255, they correspond to the hexadecimal numbers 40, 07, ff, and so the first six characters of the hash would be 4007ff. Because every Knot Hash is sixteen such numbers, the hexadecimal representation is always 32 hexadecimal digits (0-f) long.