In order to get better at encryption, I need to know how to code.
This is a problem because I have attempted numerous different times to teach myself Python because, well, its the popular language and its functional.
Python can be downloaded here easily enough. I chose to use VSCode as my IDE on recommendation from a developer whom, once switching from Atom said, they never looked back.
I am still having difficulty navigating the IDE which I guess will be fixed in time enough.
The famous Caesar Cipher is a simple enough thing to discuss. You have your cleartext, you move it by key, say 5, and then the letters in your message get moved 5 letters down the alphabet, you are then left with your ciphertext.
This is the most elementary form of encryption and a seemingly great place to start on my journey to encryption enlightenment.
Once I had the VSCode loaded and had cleared out the welcome wagon (which took far longer than I thought) it was time to start the whole thing that I have been trying to avoid doing for almost ten years: coding.
First I needed to create a variable for the plaintext
Next came the alphabet variable, this allows me a "dictionary" of letters to manipulate
The key variable is the amount the plaintext will be moved, the oomph, to the Caesar Cipher
Here is where the ciphertext will be stored.
I was intimidated by this code the first time I saw it but after a while it ended up making a lot of sense. Using a bit of math found on the Wikipedia page will actually break this down into easier to understand terms.
The Code: for/if loop is basically connecting the plaintext and alphabet variables, which
will allow me to do operations on them concerning the other.
'cipher +=' lets the argument on the other side be passed throw into the 'cipher' variable
The Math: En(x) = (x + n) mod 26
Scary, I know, but not really, I promise.
The equation states that Encrypted-X is just equal to X plus N (our key, in this example it is 5) modulus 26, the number of characters in our alphabet. The modulus operator returns the remainder of a function if the answer to it is outside the bounds of the question.
Example: If our key was 1, A would equal B.
If our key was 26, A would equal A
If our key was 27, A would equal B.
27%26 returns 1, A plus 1 equals B
You see this in the right hand side of the argument.
(C-Key)%26
Print function to display the ciphertext post-encryption.
All in all this was incredible simple, however, the lessons I have taken away from this will be indispensable.
I will be doing much more of this kind of thing in the future as my coding and encryption skills grow.