This project showcases the implementation of the Caesar Cipher algorithm using object-oriented programming (OOP) concepts and the strategy design pattern. The Caesar Cipher is a simple substitution cipher that replaces each letter in the plaintext with a letter a fixed number of positions down the alphabet.
- Abstraction: The algorithm is encapsulated within classes and methods, abstracting away the details of the encryption and decryption process.
- Encapsulation: The algorithm's implementation is encapsulated within classes, providing data hiding and ensuring that the encryption and decryption logic is contained within the appropriate objects.
- Inheritance: The project may utilize inheritance to extend the functionality of existing classes or to create specialized variants of the cipher.
- Interface: The CipherStrategy interface defines the contract for different encryption strategies, allowing for interchangeable implementations.
- Polymorphism: The use of the CipherStrategy interface enables polymorphism, allowing different encryption strategies to be used interchangeably.
- Modularity: The implementation is modular, with separate classes for the Caesar Cipher algorithm and the client test class, promoting code organization and maintainability.
The strategy design pattern is employed in this project to facilitate different encryption strategies. The CipherContext class acts as the context and maintains a reference to a concrete implementation of the CipherStrategy interface. This allows for runtime selection and substitution of different encryption strategies, such as varying shift values in the case of the Caesar Cipher.
The implemented Caesar Cipher algorithm provides the following functionality:
- Encryption: The algorithm can encrypt plaintext messages by shifting each letter in the message by a fixed number of positions down the alphabet.
- Decryption: The algorithm can decrypt ciphertext messages by shifting each letter in the message by the reverse of the encryption shift.
- Clone the repository and navigate to the project directory.
- Open the
CeasarCipherTest.java
file located in thepkgCeasarCipherTest
package. - Compile and run the
CeasarCipherTest
class. - Follow the on-screen instructions to choose encryption or decryption, provide the shift value, and enter the message to be encrypted or decrypted.
- View the output, which will display the encrypted or decrypted message.
Ensure that you have Java Development Kit (JDK) installed on your system to compile and run the Java source code.
This project demonstrates the implementation of the Caesar Cipher algorithm using OOP concepts and the strategy design pattern. By utilizing encapsulation, abstraction, inheritance, interfaces, and modularity, the project achieves a flexible and modular design for message encryption and decryption. The strategy design pattern allows for interchangeable encryption strategies, providing extensibility and customization options.