Python Programming | Beginner | 06 Week Flex | Code Cryptography & Ciphers

Welcome to Python Programming for Beginners: Cryptography and Ciphers - 6 Week Flex, an exciting 6 week course where we will learn the basics of Python, learn to use strings, cyphers, and codes to code and decode data of various types. We will read and write strings, learn about how cyphers evolved, code examples with string replace, advanced technology like hashes, Caesar cyphers, and more.  build programs that have file persistence, or memory, to store data in our programs. This course is great for those with a little experience in Python or for beginners, as we will be exploring both how to write simple programs and various methods to encrypt data.

Each module will have an in-depth video explaining the concepts and working through building programs to solve the weekly challenge and examples of concepts. From getting started with python and working on new projects, we will build up the skills to make our own programs and learn new ways to encrypt and decrypt data. The course will focus on fun and interesting examples to help students understand concepts that can be applied elsewhere.

Because this is a flex class, students will get detailed videos each week that cover the topic of the week. Each modules includes slides, code, and video for students to work through. Students will have a weekly homework assignment at the end of each module, and share their code or discuss their successes and failures in the  classroom. Learning from each other and discussing what works and what doesn't in an important part of programming, no one is perfect right away, and we have a lot to learn from each other as we try to collectively solve challenges. Students comment on each others code or approach to finding a solution. Students will be able to look at how the homework was solved, and will be provided with video feedback on their code. Feedback will be provided  so learners can work on improving their coding as we work through the course and build the skills need to learn programming.

Module 1: Using strings - we will look at printing strings in Python, exploring ASCII and plain text for encryption, and replacing strings to encode and decode data with the translate function

Module 2: Hide your data in plain site - In this module we will look at how we can write and encrypt plain code, as well as hide and search for letters inside of a secret message

Module 3: The Atbash cypher. Using a wheel cypher to encode and decode text.

Module 4: The Ceasar cypher and ROT13. In this module we will explore new ways to encrypt and decrypt data using the ideas we covered in module 3.

Module 5: Frequency and decryption. If we have no idea how to guess the cypher, we can look at some ideas of cracking codes based on substitution and frequency

Module 6: Modern encryption methods using hash for passwords. In this module we will explore more advanced password encryption methods and practice some examples.We will also look at image based steganography using Python or how to encode a secret message inside of a digital picture