Enigma – a walkthrough from Caesar ciphers to a working Enigma machine
I recently went on a long walk (to get newborn twins to nap) and ended up having a long discussion with ChatGPT in voice mode; asking it to explain how the Enigma machine worked and clarifying all the errors in my current understanding. I ended up going right back to basics and then subsequently spent ages failing to understand how it was cracked. Anyway, I built this in an attempt to recreate that arc for people (like me) who find Enigma intimidating: 13 stages, ~15 minutes, ending in a sandbox machine and the "no letter encrypts to itself" flaw that doomed it. Built with React + SVG +…
Enigma – a walkthrough from Caesar ciphers to a working Enigma machine launched on May 27, 2026 with 5 votes, #2,008 of 20,538 launches that month and more than 75% of that year's launches.
What it does
A walk from the simplest ciphers to a working Enigma machine, told one stage at a time.
In the maker’s words, at launch
I recently went on a long walk (to get newborn twins to nap) and ended up having a long discussion with ChatGPT in voice mode; asking it to explain how the Enigma machine worked and clarifying all the errors in my current understanding. I ended up going right back to basics and then subsequently spent ages failing to…
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Source: Show HN post ↗ · launch text quoted in part
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