""" cipher.py A quick version of cryptographic stuff we did a few weeks ago. (This is the "docstring", or interface spec : what is this, and how do I use it?) Jim M, Sep 30, GPL """ # (This is an implementation comment: what are the 'how' details?) # I decided to use mod arithmetic # to implement the encoding and decoding. # def main(): print "-- cipher ---\n" key = int(raw_input("What is the key? (13) ")) word = raw_input("What is the word? (cat) ") new_word = "" for char in word: crypt_char = chr(((ord(char) - ord('a') + key) % 26) + ord('a')) new_word = new_word + crypt_char print "'%s' encrypted is '%s' \n" % (word, new_word) main()