If you can do it by downloading and running bitaddress.org open source software then why would you waste your time? You seriously want to replicate today's technology with the tools of the past? Take about backwards.
That's great; if you can "learn" by reading JavaScript. Within the client-side code we find;
/*!
* Crypto-JS v2.5.4 SHA256.js
*
http://code.google.com/p/crypto-js/* Copyright (c) 2009-2013, Jeff Mott. All rights reserved.
*
http://code.google.com/p/crypto-js/wiki/License*/
(function () {
// Shortcuts
var C = Crypto,
util = C.util,
charenc = C.charenc,
UTF8 = charenc.UTF8,
Binary = charenc.Binary;
// Constants
var K = [0x428A2F98, 0x71374491, 0xB5C0FBCF, 0xE9B5DBA5,
0x3956C25B, 0x59F111F1, 0x923F82A4, 0xAB1C5ED5,
0xD807AA98, 0x12835B01, 0x243185BE, 0x550C7DC3,
0x72BE5D74, 0x80DEB1FE, 0x9BDC06A7, 0xC19BF174,
0xE49B69C1, 0xEFBE4786, 0x0FC19DC6, 0x240CA1CC,
0x2DE92C6F, 0x4A7484AA, 0x5CB0A9DC, 0x76F988DA,
0x983E5152, 0xA831C66D, 0xB00327C8, 0xBF597FC7,
0xC6E00BF3, 0xD5A79147, 0x06CA6351, 0x14292967,
0x27B70A85, 0x2E1B2138, 0x4D2C6DFC, 0x53380D13,
0x650A7354, 0x766A0ABB, 0x81C2C92E, 0x92722C85,
0xA2BFE8A1, 0xA81A664B, 0xC24B8B70, 0xC76C51A3,
0xD192E819, 0xD6990624, 0xF40E3585, 0x106AA070,
0x19A4C116, 0x1E376C08, 0x2748774C, 0x34B0BCB5,
0x391C0CB3, 0x4ED8AA4A, 0x5B9CCA4F, 0x682E6FF3,
0x748F82EE, 0x78A5636F, 0x84C87814, 0x8CC70208,
0x90BEFFFA, 0xA4506CEB, 0xBEF9A3F7, 0xC67178F2];
// Public API
var SHA256 = C.SHA256 = function (message, options) {
var digestbytes = util.wordsToBytes(SHA256._sha256(message));
return options && options.asBytes ? digestbytes :
options && options.asString ? Binary.bytesToString(digestbytes) :
util.bytesToHex(digestbytes);
};
// The core
SHA256._sha256 = function (message) {
// Convert to byte array
if (message.constructor == String) message = UTF8.stringToBytes(message);
/* else, assume byte array already */
var m = util.bytesToWords(message),
l = message.length * 8,
H = [0x6A09E667, 0xBB67AE85, 0x3C6EF372, 0xA54FF53A,
0x510E527F, 0x9B05688C, 0x1F83D9AB, 0x5BE0CD19],
w = [],
a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i, j,
t1, t2;
// Padding
m[l >> 5] |= 0x80 << (24 - l % 32);
m[((l + 64 >> 9) << 4) + 15] = l;
for (var i = 0; i < m.length; i += 16) {
a = H[0];
b = H[1];
c = H[2];
d = H[3];
e = H[4];
f = H[5];
g = H[6];
h = H[7];
for (var j = 0; j < 64; j++) {
if (j < 16) w[j] = m[j + i];
else {
var gamma0x = w[j - 15],
gamma1x = w[j - 2],
gamma0 = ((gamma0x << 25) | (gamma0x >>> 7)) ^
((gamma0x << 14) | (gamma0x >>> 18)) ^
(gamma0x >>> 3),
gamma1 = ((gamma1x << 15) | (gamma1x >>> 17)) ^
((gamma1x << 13) | (gamma1x >>> 19)) ^
(gamma1x >>> 10);
w[j] = gamma0 + (w[j - 7] >>> 0) +
gamma1 + (w[j - 16] >>> 0);
}
var ch = e & f ^ ~e & g,
maj = a & b ^ a & c ^ b & c,
sigma0 = ((a << 30) | (a >>> 2)) ^
((a << 19) | (a >>> 13)) ^
((a << 10) | (a >>> 22)),
sigma1 = ((e << 26) | (e >>> 6)) ^
((e << 21) | (e >>> 11)) ^
((e << 7) | (e >>> 25));
t1 = (h >>> 0) + sigma1 + ch + (K[j]) + (w[j] >>> 0);
t2 = sigma0 + maj;
h = g;
g = f;
f = e;
e = (d + t1) >>> 0;
d = c;
c = b;
b = a;
a = (t1 + t2) >>> 0;
}
H[0] += a;
H[1] += b;
H[2] += c;
H[3] += d;
H[4] += e;
H[5] += f;
H[6] += g;
H[7] += h;
}
return H;
};
// Package private blocksize
SHA256._blocksize = 16;
SHA256._digestsize = 32;
})();
Whilst meaningful to many the code above eludes many more. Meanwhile it is my hope that
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1mOTrqckdetCoRxY5QkVcyQ7Z0gcYIH-Dc0tu7t9f7tw reveals SHA256 to at least a few more folks that are sheet-knowledgeable but Java-naïve.
Trusting a website to do what it claims is ok up to some threshold of investment. Having the technical capability to confirm that it is indeed fully client-side with absolutely no backdoor is beyond many. For investments above some threshold, an air-gapped system is truly wise.