🔒 Homework problem

[humble sphinx]

I'm reading about caesar cypher's in class and I'm using the code from the example as reference. How do I create a script that fits the function in the instructions? I'm really struggling a lot understanding coding and it's pretty frustrating because I don't have the creativity to write anything up

[remote turret]

@humble sphinx

Python help channel opened

Remember to:

• Ask your Python question, not if you can ask or if there's an expert who can help.
• Show a code sample as text (rather than a screenshot) and the error message, if you've got one.
• Explain what you expect to happen and what actually happens.

:warning: Do not pip install anything that isn't related to your question, especially if asked to over DMs.

Closes after a period of inactivity, or when you send !close.

[deep prairie]

first step seems like it would be creating the file the instructions specify

Oops, misread it,s orry

that error message you get, pick it apart a bit for me

do you know what a string is?

[coarse arrow]

basically what the error says is that you are trying to add a string (combination of letters) with a int (numbers), which does not work well

[humble sphinx]

yeah it's just a series of characters

could also include numbers

[deep prairie]

it could, but numbers in strings are just characters

python doesn't differentiate between the character '7' and the character 'b' when it comes to string operations.

you can convert a string to an int though, by passing the string to the int() function

[humble sphinx]

do I have to do that in this scenerio?

[deep prairie]

yes, + isn't defined for a string and an int

[coarse arrow]

in distance put

distance = int(input("enter your distance value: "))

[humble sphinx]

it's in there alredy

[humble sphinx]

yeah I forgot to post the updated ss

[coarse arrow]

this error now is that you didnt define the cipher variable

[humble sphinx]

I wonder why they didn't do so in the book

[coarse arrow]

you need to give the variable a value before you can use it

[humble sphinx]

yeah I know

would it be set to a string?

[coarse arrow]

you mean cipher?

[humble sphinx]

yeah

what would I set the cipher value to

[coarse arrow]

uh just a sec an you paste your code im having difficulty reading it lmao

[humble sphinx]

yeah I gotchu

User inputs their plaintext
plainText = input("Enter your message: ")
distance = int(input("Enter your distance value: "))
code = ""
for ch in plainText:
ordvalue = ord(ch)
cipherValue = ordvalue + distance
if cipher > ord('z'):
cipherValue = ord('a') + distance -
(ord('z') - ordvalue + 1)
code += chr(cipherValue)
print(code)

[deep prairie]

cipher > ord('z'): what is cipher here? what's it's value?

[humble sphinx]

I don't know

[coarse arrow]

im not exactly sure what cipher is supposed to do just give me a sec...

also btw the code += chr(cipherValue) is outside of the loop

plainText = input("Enter your message: ")
distance = int(input("Enter your distance value: "))
code = ""
for ch in plainText:
    ordvalue = ord(ch)
    cipherValue = ordvalue + distance
    if cipherValue > ord('z'):
        cipherValue = ord('a') + distance - \
                      (ord('z') - ordvalue + 1)
    code += chr(cipherValue)
print(code)

[humble sphinx]

I just noticed that

[coarse arrow]

this should work i think you meant cipherValue

[deep prairie]

have you assigned a value to cipher anywhere in the code?

[humble sphinx]

no

the code I used for reference doesn't do so

[deep prairie]

can you share your reference code?

[coarse arrow]

im pretty sure this works i tested it you might want to check this out

[humble sphinx]

the code on the top right

[deep prairie]

that code doesn't use a variable named cipher

[coarse arrow]

i replaced cipher with cipherValue and put the part in the loop

@humble sphinx issue solved?

[humble sphinx]

no

[coarse arrow]

isnt his correct?

if the cipher gives a letter higher than z it goes back to a

[humble sphinx]

I don't know

but it sure didn't output such

[deep prairie]

so why don't you break it down into steps

for a given letter, how do you find it's cipher letter?

[humble sphinx]

It's corresponding to a ascii value

I think

[deep prairie]

so lets say step one: convert the letter to it's ascii value with ord()

next step

[humble sphinx]

set the ciphervalue

with ord + distance

using the plaintext and distance

[deep prairie]

ok, what next?

[humble sphinx]

then add calculations to the ciphervalue to bridge the gap

between the character a and z

then you add the code to the cipher value

[deep prairie]

yep. now that we've got there, you have the example code, how does it not fulfill the prompt just as it is?

[humble sphinx]

well I don't know

it didn't work with the inputs that the grading thing inputted

therefore it is incorrect

[deep prairie]

can you see the inputs the failing test case is giving?

[humble sphinx]

yeah it doesn't say what text they used but the distance value is off

[remote turret]

Python help channel closed

This help channel has been closed and it's no longer possible to send messages here. If your question wasn't answered, feel free to create a new post in #1035199133436354600. To maximize your chances of getting a response, check out this guide on asking good questions.