hello,

i am attempting to create a program that will assign random letters to create an encrypted phrase. for example, i want to assign the number 3 to represent "A" and G to represent "N" so if "an" was written in the code it would be displayed in text as "3G". everytime a letter appears, the same code letter/number should be displayed so that a user could attempt to decode an entire sentence.

i have been working with arrays in trying to do this, but it has proven challenging especially to make it so that the same symbol is not assigned to numerous letters (like if 3 represented "A" and "B")

can anybody offer up some tips as to how i can create this code?

thank you!

thanks for responding.

i understand the logic you're explaining, but what would this look like exactly in code?

eventually i need to get to the point where i type a sentence like "the great brown fox jumped" and have it displayed in the processing canvas as "3ml atlg3 et2sj riq hzkolw" but this is really pushing my knowledge to the test in terms of generating this properly and then displaying it also.

You could do something like:
Code:

String source="abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789";
String enc="";
for(int i=0;i<26;i++)
{
  int pos=(int)random(source.length());
  enc+=source.charAt(pos);
  source=source.substring(0,pos)+source.substring(pos+1,source.length());
  println("enc:"+enc);
  println("source:"+source); 
}

String plaintext="the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog"; //lowercase
String encrypted="";
for(int i=0;i<plaintext.length();i++)
{
  char c=plaintext.charAt(i);
  if(c!=' ')
  {
    int pos=(int)c-(int)'a';
    encrypted+=enc.charAt(pos);
  }
  else
    encrypted+=" ";
}
println(plaintext);
println(encrypted); 

brilliant solutions guys, thank you! i've learned a lot looking at both of your programs.

i do have one more hurdle i am attempting to overcome. i'd like to allow the user to type the correct, decoded letter in to a series of blank spaces below the encrypted message.

for example:
U66UT2
A__AC_

the user would be able to select with their keyboard or mouse the blank they wish to fill in, and anywhere that the encryption "U" appears, the letter the user enters (in this case "A" for "U", or perhaps "T" for "6") would appear everytime that the "6" appears.. this way the user can keep better track of what letters they are usin to decode the message. my problems with this are:

1) allowing the user to highlight or select a specific blank and then type a letter only in that spot
2) having the letter they enter then show up every other time its encrypted letter shows up in the message

eventually once the user completes the puzzle correctly, i need to make the program recognize this and display a screen declaring the user has solved it, so i need to verify the letters that the user enters.

here is my code presently. i have the position of the cursor being tracked to an extent, but i am lost as to how to modify a specific character in the text, and how to limit it so the user is editing only the blank spaces i provide for them, excluding spaces, etc. and i have had no luck using arrays to track multiple instances of the same letter appearing. am i on the right track with what is below?


PFont font;
String source="ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ0123456789";
String enc="";


void setup() {
 size(600,400);
 background(0);
 smooth();
 font = loadFont("dialoginput.bold-24.vlw");
 textFont(font);
 
 current = 0;
 
for(int i=0;i<26;i++)
{
 int pos=(int)random(source.length());
 enc+=source.charAt(pos);
 source=source.substring(0,pos)+source.substring(pos+1,source.length());
 println("enc:"+enc);
 println("source:"+source);  
}


}



color fillVal = color(126);
float x = 200;
int current;
String letters = "";

void draw() {
 background(0);
 String plaintext="on the attack decades of negative adds"; //lowercase
 String encrypted="";
 for(int i=0;i<plaintext.length();i++)
 {
   char c=plaintext.charAt(i);
   if(c!=' ')
   {
     int pos=(int)c-(int)'a';
     encrypted+=enc.charAt(pos);
     }
     else
     encrypted+=" ";
  }    
 

fill(255);
text(encrypted,10,30);
text(plaintext,10,50);
     
fill(fillVal);
rect(x,175,25,25);

text(letters,200,200);
}

void keyPressed() {
 if (key == CODED) {
   if (keyCode == LEFT) {
     fillVal = 255;
     x -= 14;
     current = current-1;
   } else if (keyCode == RIGHT) {
     fillVal = 155;
     x += 14;
     current = current+1;
   }
 } else {
   fillVal = 126;
   x += 14;
   letters = letters + key;
   current = current+1;
   
   if (key == BACKSPACE || key == DELETE) {
  fillVal = 255;
     x -= 14;
     current = current-1;
   }
   
 }
       
   println(current);
   
}