Updated README and cleaned up the code some. Added type hints.

README.md

@@ -1,18 +1,38 @@
 # Enigma Machine
-Recreates the functionality of the Enigma Machine from World War II.
+Recreates the functionality of the Enigma Machine from World War II. Mainly just an exercise in Python.
 
 ## Usage
-`uv run main.py [0-58] [0-58] [0-58] '[message]' 'e|d' [int]`
+`uv run main.py "[message]" e|d [int]`
+
 
 Where:
-- 0-58 [integer] is the first seed value
+- __"[message]"__ is the message to be encrypted/decrypted. Should be in quotes.
-- 0-58 [integer] is the second seed value
+- __e|d__ is the direction of the message (encrypt or decrypt).
-- 0-58 [integer] is the third seed value
+- __int__ is the number of iterations to be made.
-- message is the message to be encrypted/decrypted
-- e|d is the direction of the message (encrypt or decrypt)
-- int is the number of iterations to be made (not yet implemented)
 
-## Examples
+### Seed Values
-`uv run main.py  32 15 1 'This is a test.' 'e' 3`
+When encrypting a message, a file will be written to the current directory. This file contains the seed values used to 
+generate the encryption/decryption keys.
+
+The seed values are integers between 0 and 58. In the file, each seed value is on a new line.
+
+The number of iterations should match the number of seed values used.
+
+### Examples
+#### Encode
+Encode the message "You are here." with three iterations.
+
+`uv run main.py "You are here." e 3`
+
+The command above will create a file called "seed_values.txt" with the generated seed values.
+
+#### Decode
+Decode the message "NTb!QDbGDQDa" with three iterations.
+
+`uv run main.py '.NTb!QDbGDQDa' d 3`
+
+The command above expects a file called "seed_values.txt" with the seed values used to encode the message from the preceding example.
+
+## TODO
+- [ ] Add a param to tell the `encode` function to use an existing seed file.
 
-`uv run main.py 32 15 1 'Uijt!jt!b!uftu' 'd' 3`

main.py

@@ -2,48 +2,32 @@ import random
 import sys
 import time
 
-alpha_base = "ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz,. !="
+# define the full range of characters used by this program
+alpha_base: str = "ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz,. !="
 
+
+# MAIN
 def main():
     ### Argument validation ###
-    if len(sys.argv) < 7:
+    if len(sys.argv) < 4:
-        print("Usage: uv run main.py [0-58] [0-58] [0-58] '[message]' 'e|d' [int]")
+        print("Usage: uv run main.py \"[message]\" e|d [int]")
         sys.exit(1)
 
-    base_max = len(alpha_base)
+    base_max: int = len(alpha_base)
 
-    if not is_number(sys.argv[1]) or not is_number(sys.argv[2]) or not is_number(sys.argv[3]):
+    if not is_number(sys.argv[3]):
-        print("Invalid seed value.")
-        sys.exit(1)
-
-    if not is_number(sys.argv[6]):
         print("Invalid iterations value.")
         sys.exit(1)
 
-    if int(sys.argv[1]) == 0 or int(sys.argv[1]) > base_max:
+    if int(sys.argv[3]) == 0:
-        seed1 = random.randint(1, base_max)
-    else:
-        seed1 = int(sys.argv[1])
-
-    if int(sys.argv[2]) == 0 or int(sys.argv[2]) > base_max:
-        seed2 = random.randint(1, base_max)
-    else:
-        seed2 = int(sys.argv[2])
-
-    if int(sys.argv[3]) == 0 or int(sys.argv[3]) > base_max:
-        seed3 = random.randint(1, base_max)
-    else:
-        seed3 = int(sys.argv[3])
-
-    if int(sys.argv[6]) < 0:
         iterations = 3
     else:
-        iterations = int(sys.argv[6])
+        iterations = int(sys.argv[3])
 
     ### Processing ###
-    seed_values = []
+    seed_values: list[int] = []
 
-    if sys.argv[5] == "e":
+    if sys.argv[2] == "e":
         with open("seeds.txt", "w") as f:
             for iteration in range(0, iterations):
                 random.seed(time.time())
@@ -51,36 +35,34 @@ def main():
                 f.write(str(seed_values[iteration]) + "\n")
         f.close()
 
-    if sys.argv[5] == "d":
+    if sys.argv[2] == "d":
         with open("seeds.txt", "r") as f:
             for iteration in range(0, iterations):
                 seed = f.readline()
                 seed_values.append(int(seed))
         f.close()
 
-    iteration_result = ""
+    iteration_result: str = ""
 
-    if sys.argv[5] == "e":
+    if sys.argv[2] == "e":
         print("Encoding!")
         for iteration in range(0, iterations):
-            iteration_result = encode(seed_values[iteration], sys.argv[4])
+            iteration_result = encode(seed_values[iteration], sys.argv[1])
-            # print("Seed:", iteration, "is", seed_values[iteration])
 
         print("Result:", "\"" + iteration_result + "\"")
-    elif sys.argv[5] == "d":
+    elif sys.argv[2] == "d":
         print("Decoding!")
         for iteration in range(0, iterations):
-            iteration_result = decode(seed_values[iteration], sys.argv[4])
+            iteration_result = decode(seed_values[iteration], sys.argv[1])
 
-        # print("Seeds used:", seed1, seed2, seed3)
         print("Result:", "\"" + iteration_result + "\"")
     else:
         print("Invalid option!")
         sys.exit(1)
 
 
-def encode(offset, message):
+def encode(offset: int, message: str) -> str:
-    result_message = ""
+    result_message: str = ""
 
     for index_a in range(len(message)):
         for index_b in range(len(alpha_base)):
@@ -94,8 +76,8 @@ def encode(offset, message):
     return result_message
 
 
-def decode(offset, message):
+def decode(offset: int, message: str) -> str:
-    result_message = ""
+    result_message: str = ""
 
     for index_a in range(len(message)):
         for index_b in range(len(alpha_base)):
@@ -109,7 +91,7 @@ def decode(offset, message):
     return result_message
 
 
-def is_number(i):
+def is_number(i) -> bool:
     try:
         int(i)
         return True