Lab Week 08: Substitution Cipher Notes

Today

  1. Making a Substitution Table
  2. ArrayList

Making a Substitution Table

Random and Keys

The Random class is a “psuedo-random number generator” (PRNG)

  • Given a key, it produces a “random looking” sequence of numbers:
long key = 2685452;
Random r = new Random(key); // use key for Random seed

r.nextInt(10); // a 'random' # from 0 to 9
r.nextInt(10); // another 'random' # from 0 to 9
r.nextInt(10); // another 'random' # from 0 to 9
  • Given the same key, Random objects will produce the same sequence of numbers

Generating a Substitution Table

key $\implies$ new Random(key) $\implies$ substitution table

What we want:

Substitution Table from Random?

Implementing this Procedure

How do we represent a “deck of cards”?

  • Could use an array…

Using an ArrayList, Part I

  • ArrayList<type> is a Java
  • import java.util.ArrayList to use
  • Similar to arrays, but more flexible
  • Make an ArrayList storing ints:
ArrayList<Integer> al = new ArrayList<Integer>();
  • Add some ints:
al.add(1);
al.add(2);
al.add(3);

Using an ArrayList, Part II

  • getting the size of an ArrayList 
ai.size(); // returns 3
  • getting elements from an ArrayList 
ai.get(0); // returns 1
ai.get(1); // returns 2
ai.get(2); // returns 3
  • removing elements from an ArrayList 
ai.remove(1); // returns 2, ArrayList now stores [1, 3]
ai.size();    // now returns 2 (new size after removal)