Nifty Assignments
Enigma Machine Simulator

Eric S. Roberts and Jed Rembold

In this assignment, students implement a simulator for the Enigma encryption machine used by the Germans during World War II. The project is organized into six milestones, each of which requires approximately 10-15 lines of code, making it easily accessible to a CS2 audience familiar with defining classes and standard dictionary and list structures.

What makes this project nifty?

• It works well in a CS2 course once students have covered classes, lists, and dictionaries.
• The project decomposes nicely into small, easily understood milestones.
• The project affords interesting extensions for students who are progressing quickly.
• Students build a graphical application without having to learn a complex package.
• The Enigma machine is an important part of the history of computing and offers a dramatic way to introduce the life and work of Alan Turing.
• Implementations exist for both Python and Java.
• The web-based demos reveal none of the implementation details.

Resource links

• Project handout [pdf]
• Additional background on the Enigma machine [pdf]
• Starter files for the Python version [zip]
• Starter files for the Java version [zip]
• Demos for each milestone [demo]