Caesar Cipher: Implement a basic encryption and decryption tool.
11 August 2024 at 08:48
Caesar Cipher: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caesar_cipher
Game Steps
- Introduction: Provide a brief introduction to the Caesar Cipher, explaining that itβs a substitution cipher where each letter in the plaintext is shifted a fixed number of places down or up the alphabet.
- Choose Operation: Ask the user whether they want to encrypt or decrypt a message.
- Input Text: Prompt the user to enter the text they want to encrypt or decrypt.
- Input Shift Value: Request the shift value (key) for the cipher. Ensure the value is within a valid range (typically 1 to 25).
- Perform Operation: Apply the Caesar Cipher algorithm to the input text based on the userβs choice of encryption or decryption.
- Display Result: Show the resulting encrypted or decrypted text to the user.
- Play Again Option: Ask the user if they want to perform another encryption or decryption with new inputs.
Input Ideas
- Text Input: Allow the user to input any string of text. Handle both uppercase and lowercase letters. Decide how to treat non-alphabetic characters (e.g., spaces, punctuation).
- Shift Value: Ask the user for an integer shift value. Ensure it is within a reasonable range (1 to 25). Handle cases where the shift value is negative or greater than 25 by normalizing it.
- Mode Selection: Provide options to select between encryption and decryption. For encryption, the shift will be added; for decryption, the shift will be subtracted.
- Case Sensitivity: Handle uppercase and lowercase letters differently or consistently based on user preference.
- Special Characters: Decide whether to include special characters and spaces in the encrypted/decrypted text. Define how these characters should be treated.
Additional Features
- Input Validation: Implement checks to ensure the shift value is an integer and falls within the expected range. Validate that text input does not contain unsupported characters (if needed).
- Help/Instructions: Provide an option for users to view help or instructions on how to use the tool, explaining the Caesar Cipher and how to enter inputs.
- GUI Interface: Create a graphical user interface using Tkinter or another library to make the tool more accessible and user-friendly.
- File Operations: Allow users to read from and write to text files for encryption and decryption. This is useful for larger amounts of text.
- Brute Force Attack: Implement a brute force mode that tries all possible shifts for decryption and displays all possible plaintexts, useful for educational purposes or cracking simple ciphers.
- Custom Alphabet: Allow users to define a custom alphabet or set of characters for the cipher, making it more flexible and adaptable.
- Save and Load Settings: Implement functionality to save and load encryption/decryption settings, such as shift values or custom alphabets, for future use.