We have used the Caesar cipher in class on Thursday, when we decrypted our syllabus for this class. For most of us, we have seen the Caesar cipher before. Using this cipher to get a mathematical background for how we can describe a cipher will let us more intelligently speak about ciphers in the future
The Vigenere cipher was one of the most popular classical cipher
technique. It was developed way back in 1500's, but was popularized
by French mathematician Vigenere. It was thought o be so strong
that it was given the name
Implement a Vigenere cipher, either in C++ or Python.
Another cipher commonly lumped together with the other classical ciphers is the Hill cipher. This was developed much more recently than the others, during the early 1900's. It's not super secure, but it does handle the input in a unique way
Read Section 8 (and any others you feel the need to) about the Hill cipher.