|
| 1 | +# Xorcism |
| 2 | + |
| 3 | +Write a streaming adaptor which contains a reference to a key, and bitwise-XORs |
| 4 | +it with arbitrary data. |
| 5 | + |
| 6 | +XOR is a fundamental binary operation: for each bit in the inputs, set the |
| 7 | +corresponding bit of the output to `1` if the input bits are different. If both |
| 8 | +inputs are `1` or both are `0`, then the corresponding output bit is `0`. |
| 9 | + |
| 10 | +When XORing a document with a key, the key is repeated as many times as |
| 11 | +necessary, producing an output document equal in length to the input document. |
| 12 | + |
| 13 | +XORing a document with a key has been used for cryptography as recently as the |
| 14 | +early 1900s. While this is thoroughly obsolete as a method for hiding data, it |
| 15 | +can be surprisingly useful for generating noisy random-seeming data without |
| 16 | +needing the complication of true randomness. It is still used occasionally in |
| 17 | +modern cryptography for certain ciphers: the cipher itself is just a mechanism |
| 18 | +for generating a very random, infinitely long key, which is XOR'd with the |
| 19 | +document. |
| 20 | + |
| 21 | +One interesting property of XOR encryption is that it is symmetrical: XORing any |
| 22 | +number with itself produces `0`, and XORing any number with `0` returns the |
| 23 | +input number unchanged. Therefore, to decrypt a document which has been |
| 24 | +XOR-encrypted, XOR-encrypt it again using the same key. |
| 25 | + |
| 26 | +## Nonallocation |
| 27 | + |
| 28 | +It is not practical to write a test which ensures that your struct holds a |
| 29 | +reference to the key instead of copying it. Likewise, it is not practical to |
| 30 | +prove with a test that neither `munge` nor `munge_in_place`, nor any of their |
| 31 | +helper functions, allocate on the heap. Nevertheless, you should attempt to |
| 32 | +write your solution in this way. |
| 33 | + |
| 34 | +## Implementation |
| 35 | + |
| 36 | +You will need to write a `struct Xorcism` which holds a reference to a key. That |
| 37 | +struct must provide two methods: `munge_in_place` and `munge`. The former |
| 38 | +adjusts a byte buffer in-place. The latter is an iterator adaptor: it accepts an |
| 39 | +arbitrary iterator of data, and returns a new iterator of data. |
| 40 | + |
| 41 | +This exercise's stub signatures are largely correct in syntax, but they do not |
| 42 | +compile: a large part of the point of this exercise is for you to get familiar |
| 43 | +with using lifetimes and generics, so you will need to fill them in on your own. |
| 44 | +Another goal of this exercise is for you to figure out an appropriate |
| 45 | +factorization which enables you to implement both of those methods with minimal |
| 46 | +duplication of effort. Don't be afraid to introduce additional helpers! |
| 47 | + |
| 48 | +## Useful Traits |
| 49 | + |
| 50 | +These traits will be useful: |
| 51 | + |
| 52 | +- [`AsRef`](https://doc.rust-lang.org/std/convert/trait.AsRef.html) |
| 53 | +- [`Borrow`](https://doc.rust-lang.org/std/borrow/trait.Borrow.html) |
| 54 | +- [`ExactSizeIterator`](https://doc.rust-lang.org/std/iter/trait.ExactSizeIterator.html) |
| 55 | +- [`IntoIterator`](https://doc.rust-lang.org/std/iter/trait.IntoIterator.html) |
| 56 | +- [`Sized`](https://doc.rust-lang.org/std/marker/trait.Sized.html) |
| 57 | + |
| 58 | +## Bonus Tests |
| 59 | + |
| 60 | +This exercise contains bonus tests, behind the `io` feature flag. To enable |
| 61 | +them, run |
| 62 | + |
| 63 | +```sh |
| 64 | +cargo test --features io |
| 65 | +``` |
| 66 | + |
| 67 | +For these tests, you will need to implement a method `reader` with the signature |
| 68 | + |
| 69 | +```rust |
| 70 | +fn reader(self, impl Read) -> impl Read |
| 71 | +``` |
| 72 | + |
| 73 | +and a method `writer` with the signature |
| 74 | + |
| 75 | +```rust |
| 76 | +fn writer(self, impl Write) -> impl Write |
| 77 | +``` |
| 78 | + |
| 79 | +These functions each convert the `Xorcism` struct into a stream adaptor in the |
| 80 | +appropriate direction. They use these traits: |
| 81 | + |
| 82 | +- [`Read`](https://doc.rust-lang.org/std/io/trait.Read.html) |
| 83 | +- [`Write`](https://doc.rust-lang.org/std/io/trait.Write.html) |
| 84 | + |
| 85 | +## Rust Installation |
| 86 | + |
| 87 | +Refer to the [exercism help page][help-page] for Rust installation and learning |
| 88 | +resources. |
| 89 | + |
| 90 | +## Writing the Code |
| 91 | + |
| 92 | +Execute the tests with: |
| 93 | + |
| 94 | +```bash |
| 95 | +$ cargo test |
| 96 | +``` |
| 97 | + |
| 98 | +All but the first test have been ignored. After you get the first test to |
| 99 | +pass, open the tests source file which is located in the `tests` directory |
| 100 | +and remove the `#[ignore]` flag from the next test and get the tests to pass |
| 101 | +again. Each separate test is a function with `#[test]` flag above it. |
| 102 | +Continue, until you pass every test. |
| 103 | + |
| 104 | +If you wish to run all ignored tests without editing the tests source file, use: |
| 105 | + |
| 106 | +```bash |
| 107 | +$ cargo test -- --ignored |
| 108 | +``` |
| 109 | + |
| 110 | +To run a specific test, for example `some_test`, you can use: |
| 111 | + |
| 112 | +```bash |
| 113 | +$ cargo test some_test |
| 114 | +``` |
| 115 | + |
| 116 | +If the specific test is ignored use: |
| 117 | + |
| 118 | +```bash |
| 119 | +$ cargo test some_test -- --ignored |
| 120 | +``` |
| 121 | + |
| 122 | +To learn more about Rust tests refer to the [online test documentation][rust-tests] |
| 123 | + |
| 124 | +Make sure to read the [Modules][modules] chapter if you |
| 125 | +haven't already, it will help you with organizing your files. |
| 126 | + |
| 127 | +## Further improvements |
| 128 | + |
| 129 | +After you have solved the exercise, please consider using the additional utilities, described in the [installation guide](https://exercism.io/tracks/rust/installation), to further refine your final solution. |
| 130 | + |
| 131 | +To format your solution, inside the solution directory use |
| 132 | + |
| 133 | +```bash |
| 134 | +cargo fmt |
| 135 | +``` |
| 136 | + |
| 137 | +To see, if your solution contains some common ineffective use cases, inside the solution directory use |
| 138 | + |
| 139 | +```bash |
| 140 | +cargo clippy --all-targets |
| 141 | +``` |
| 142 | + |
| 143 | +## Submitting the solution |
| 144 | + |
| 145 | +Generally you should submit all files in which you implemented your solution (`src/lib.rs` in most cases). If you are using any external crates, please consider submitting the `Cargo.toml` file. This will make the review process faster and clearer. |
| 146 | + |
| 147 | +## Feedback, Issues, Pull Requests |
| 148 | + |
| 149 | +The [exercism/rust](https://github.com/exercism/rust) repository on GitHub is the home for all of the Rust exercises. If you have feedback about an exercise, or want to help implement new exercises, head over there and create an issue. Members of the rust track team are happy to help! |
| 150 | + |
| 151 | +If you want to know more about Exercism, take a look at the [contribution guide](https://github.com/exercism/docs/blob/master/contributing-to-language-tracks/README.md). |
| 152 | + |
| 153 | +[help-page]: https://exercism.io/tracks/rust/learning |
| 154 | +[modules]: https://doc.rust-lang.org/book/ch07-02-defining-modules-to-control-scope-and-privacy.html |
| 155 | +[cargo]: https://doc.rust-lang.org/book/ch14-00-more-about-cargo.html |
| 156 | +[rust-tests]: https://doc.rust-lang.org/book/ch11-02-running-tests.html |
| 157 | + |
| 158 | +## Source |
| 159 | + |
| 160 | +Peter Goodspeed-Niklaus |
| 161 | + |
| 162 | +## Submitting Incomplete Solutions |
| 163 | +It's possible to submit an incomplete solution so you can see how others have completed the exercise. |
0 commit comments