3 ms·

A Simulated Enigma Machine

116 points by jashkenas 7y ago

petee 7y ago
It would be cool if the routes highlighted too, so you can visualize the path better. Really neat to see it operate slowly, nice work
jonathanyc 7y ago
For a while, simulating an Enigma machine was the first assignment in the intro to functional programming course at Cornell :) http://www.cs.cornell.edu/courses/cs3110/2018fa/a1/ http://www.cs.cornell.edu/courses/cs3110/2018fa/a1/
IIAOPSW 7y ago
FQEKNHRKMGOKTVZB
cwmma 7y ago
interestingly there was a project to break unbroken 4 rotor navel enigma messages and they still have one unbroken one https://enigma.hoerenberg.com/index.php?cat=Unbroken https://enigma.hoerenberg.com/index.php?cat=Unbroken
criddell 7y ago
Is that the alphabet that the machines used? I thought the German alphabet had extra letters.
specificbox 7y ago
Hi, I really like the work you've done with the animation. However, your simulator is not working properly. It's missing key features: - Ring settings - Ground / Indicator settings - Double step anomaly - Decryption Other notes: In the manual it says: The positions of the rotor can also be configured but that isn’t configurable yet, because it’s a relatively minor detail. It's not a "minor" detail, it's a key feature. - You can choose 4 reflectors, 2 of them are THIN reflectors which were used ONLY in the Naval Enigma (M4) because the model had one additional static rotor to the three rotors. I am confused what model are you trying to simulate. Your manual says "the three rotor machine" which is neither a model, nor true. - I tried decrypting the ciphered code in 2 different simulators, both of them gave me the same result, which wasn't the original plain text message I've entered. - I don't want to wait 15 seconds just to see one letter get encrypted, it will be good to speed it up, and highlight the routes maybe? I understand if you wanted to show how observable.js works, but I do not like that it is a half-finished but published simulator. It gives a nice inside look of the rotor configuration and the current's path but it is definitely not ready for proper use.

116 points by jashkenas 7y ago

It would be cool if the routes highlighted too, so you can visualize the path better. Really neat to see it operate slowly, nice work

jonathanyc 7y ago

For a while, simulating an Enigma machine was the first assignment in the intro to functional programming course at Cornell :) http://www.cs.cornell.edu/courses/cs3110/2018fa/a1/ http://www.cs.cornell.edu/courses/cs3110/2018fa/a1/

IIAOPSW 7y ago

FQEKNHRKMGOKTVZB

cwmma 7y ago

interestingly there was a project to break unbroken 4 rotor navel enigma messages and they still have one unbroken one https://enigma.hoerenberg.com/index.php?cat=Unbroken https://enigma.hoerenberg.com/index.php?cat=Unbroken

criddell 7y ago

Is that the alphabet that the machines used? I thought the German alphabet had extra letters.

specificbox 7y ago

Hi, I really like the work you've done with the animation. However, your simulator is not working properly. It's missing key features: - Ring settings - Ground / Indicator settings - Double step anomaly - Decryption Other notes: In the manual it says: The positions of the rotor can also be configured but that isn’t configurable yet, because it’s a relatively minor detail. It's not a "minor" detail, it's a key feature. - You can choose 4 reflectors, 2 of them are THIN reflectors which were used ONLY in the Naval Enigma (M4) because the model had one additional static rotor to the three rotors. I am confused what model are you trying to simulate. Your manual says "the three rotor machine" which is neither a model, nor true. - I tried decrypting the ciphered code in 2 different simulators, both of them gave me the same result, which wasn't the original plain text message I've entered. - I don't want to wait 15 seconds just to see one letter get encrypted, it will be good to speed it up, and highlight the routes maybe? I understand if you wanted to show how observable.js works, but I do not like that it is a half-finished but published simulator. It gives a nice inside look of the rotor configuration and the current's path but it is definitely not ready for proper use.