* add sha256 bench

* feat: Refactor sha256 benchmark and update dependencies

- Refactored the `sha256.rs` benchmarking file by replacing the former `hex_literal::hex` usage with a newly created `decode_hex` function.
- Updated the "Test vectors" section to work with the new `decode_hex` function to compute digests in `Sha256Circuit` instances.
- adapted to new APIs for RecursiveSNARK
- Amended the `Cargo.toml` file to include the `sha2` package dependency, version `0.10.7`.
- added the bench target

* cargo fmt

---------

Co-authored-by: Srinath Setty <srinath@microsoft.com>

* test: compute_path

* refactor: path computation

- Improve path concatenation by utilizing built-in `join` method

* refactor: replace `PartialEq` with derived instance

- Derive `PartialEq` for `SatisfyingAssignment` struct
- Remove redundant manual implementation of `PartialEq`

Cargo-expand generates:
```
        #[automatically_derived]
        impl<G: ::core::cmp::PartialEq + Group> ::core::cmp::PartialEq
        for SatisfyingAssignment<G>
        where
            G::Scalar: PrimeField,
            G::Scalar: ::core::cmp::PartialEq,
            G::Scalar: ::core::cmp::PartialEq,
            G::Scalar: ::core::cmp::PartialEq,
            G::Scalar: ::core::cmp::PartialEq,
            G::Scalar: ::core::cmp::PartialEq,
        {
            #[inline]
            fn eq(&self, other: &SatisfyingAssignment<G>) -> bool {
                self.a_aux_density == other.a_aux_density
                    && self.b_input_density == other.b_input_density
                    && self.b_aux_density == other.b_aux_density && self.a == other.a
                    && self.b == other.b && self.c == other.c
                    && self.input_assignment == other.input_assignment
                    && self.aux_assignment == other.aux_assignment
            }
        }
```

* refactor: avoid default for PhantomData Unit type

* refactor: replace fold with sum where applicable

- Simplify code by replacing `fold` with `sum` in various instances

* refactor: decompression method in sumcheck.rs

* refactor: test functions to use slice instead of vector conversion

* refactor: use more references in functions

- Update parameter types to use references instead of owned values in various functions that do not need them
- Replace cloning instances with references

* feat: Integrate flamegraph profiling in benchmarks

- Introduce "flamegraph" feature flag for optional profiling integration
- Add benchmark profiling support in `compressed_snark` and `recursive_snark` groups
- Update Cargo.toml with `pprof` and `cfg-if` dependencies

* ci: Build benches to make sure they don't bit-rot

- Integrate bench build step into GitHub Actions workflow

* Improve performance of recursive

* Fix the test after rebase

* Fix CI/CD warnings

* Update benchmark to work with new interface of RecursiveSNARK

* Fix example to make sure step 1 is correct

* refactor: Removes unneeded pass-by value in verification

- Update function arguments to use borrowing instead of passing ownership

* Resolve the conflict with upstream branch

* refactor: Avoid extra input cloning in RecursiveSNARK::new

* Update criterion to 0.5.1 to prevent the panic with its plot

* Fix benchmark issue with new recursive_snark instance

* Fix CI/CD warning with

* refactor: Make mutation easier to observe

- Utilize mutable references to Points for better memory management

* chore: Downgrade clippy dependency for compatibility

---------

Co-authored-by: François Garillot <francois@garillot.net>

* test: add test for pp computation

* bench: add a digest computation bench

* refactor: Optimize digest computation and update tests

- Remove flate2 dependency from codebase
- Replace ZlibEncoder with bincode::serialize in compute_digest function
- Update test_pp_digest expected results to align with compute_digest changes

Bench results:
```
compute_digest          time:   [1.4451 s 1.4571 s 1.4689 s]
                        change: [-29.357% -27.854% -26.573%] (p = 0.00 < 0.05)
                        Performance has improved.
```

* genericize test_tiny_r1cs

* chore: remove redundant clone in scalar_mul

Makes clippy happy

- Update neptune dependency to version 10.0.0

* refactor: make circuit tests generic wrt curves

- Improve modularity by introducing generic `test_recursive_circuit_with` function in `src/circuit.rs`
- Refactor `test_recursive_circuit` to utilize the new function
- Implement type constraints for `test_recursive_circuit_with` function

* refactor: make bellperson tests generic in type of group

- Introduce `test_alloc_bit_with` function utilizing generic types
- Adapt existing `test_alloc_bit` function to use the new `test_alloc_bit_with` function with correct types

* refactor: make the nifs test generic in the type of group

* refactor: make the ivc tests generic in the type of curve

* refactor: simplify generics in tests

* make the keccak tests generic

* make the poseidon tests generic

* make the spartan tests generic

* add a cross-curve consistency check

* eliminate the unused instance in RecursiveSNARK

* chore: update to ff/group 0.13 and associated dependencies

Updates:
- zkcrypto/ff, zkcrypto/group to 0.13,
- bellperson to 0.25,
- pasta_curves to 0.5.1, and removes the fil_pasta_curves fork
- pasta-msm should no longer need a fork (WIP)

Adapts source in function, mostly for const usage and API updates.

* expose the portable feature of pasta-MSM

* update pointer to pasta-msm

* Clippy

---------

Co-authored-by: François Garillot <francois@garillot.net>

* a more optimal preprocessing SNARK

* update version

* cleanup; address clippy

* Ability to collect evaluation claims

* defer polynomial evaluation claims

* address cargo clippy

* spark-based commitments to R1CS matrices

* small fixes

* fix padding

* update version

* generalize the slice implementation

* bump the version

* typo fix

* Comment typos fix

* Update README.md

* Comment typo fix

* simplify transcript engine usage

* update version

* checkpoint

* simplify further

* checkpoint

* gens --> ck

* update benches

* address clippy

* cleanup

* update version

* pass only one multilinear polynomial to EE

* update version

* simplify trait requirements

* update version

* enable neptune gpu hashing

* Disable clippy on GPU

make spartan generic over the evaluation engine

update version

disable Wasm CI check

* Clippy with Rust 1.67

* Clippy/Rustfmt with Rust 1.66.1

use a macro to remove redundant code

add a test case

* Bump commit.

* Bump commit.

* (WIP) Add serde support

* Minor fixes

* Use neptune const generics

* Use git patches

* Impl serde for CompressedSNARK

* Update dependencies, revert to typenum

* Formatting

* Update bellperson-nonnative patch

* Cleanup

* Remove bellperson-nonnative fork

* Switch back to fil_pasta_curves

* Update forked dependencies

* Cleanup

* Remove unnecessary patch

* Update to lurk-pasta-msm

---------

Co-authored-by: porcuquine <porcuquine@users.noreply.github.com>

* Add Wasm support

* Use SeedableRng for Wasm randomness

* Fix tests

* Formatting

* WASM target support

* fast multiexp for WASM

* add parallelisation for MSM

https://github.com/zcash/halo2/blob/main/halo2_proofs/src/arithmetic.rs

* update crate versions

* fix clippy issues

* cargo fmt