Getting "!" and other difficult characters to encrypt.

[zask]

Ok thank you I will try that.

[Geek-9pm]

This is from dictation.
Please let they say something.
First of all, BC is a respected and trusted member of this forum and he also tells people what he thinks rather than beat around the bush.
Now as to your program that you have shown us. In a few words, it is a bad program.
First of all, there's no explanation or remarks as to what the intent is. That is a bad practice in any programming language.
Second, encryption programs are better written in programs that deal with characters and strings at the lowest level. The command language used for DOS is limited as to manipulation of characters and strings, although it can be done and is satisfactory for many applications.
Third, encryption and decryption methods, to be effective, need to be fast and compact and hidden from the users. Writing any type of encryption program in DOS script does not meet the requirements of this speed and secrecy.
Therefore, in my opinion, the criticism that BC level that you was on target. If you want to learn something, you've got to be careful where you get your information. Not everything you see on YouTube is world-class quality.
To learn more about encryption and cryptography you would need to do some serious reading and take some tutorials that are much deeper  than just a 10 min. video. Also, you need to have some familiarity with some of the language is most often used for that type of work. The C ++ language is recommended.

As you know, the DOS command language is part of Microsoft DOS that was started in 1982, as I recall. However, long before that, there were similar operating systems that were very much like MS-DOS. The is also had some type of job control language that could be called batch programming as driver call, CPM did have a batch language in the extensions to the files for also BAT.

Long before Microsoft introduced Microsoft DOS, people were using Microsoft basic to do real programs that were used both for games and for business. The early versions of Microsoft DOS had privations to me naturally characters at the lowest level and also incorporate even machine language code to supplement some of the basic functions.
The point I want to make here is that at no time was Microsoft DOS ever the choice for general purpose programming. Sometimes programmers take on challenges in Microsoft DOS just because somebody said you can't do it or you shouldn't do it.
With that in mind, which you have offered here to Estes not seem to be anything worthwhile to people who frequent this part of the form.
In this section of the form we are looking for things in a novel interesting and useful within the scope of batch programming.
I strongly recommend that you read a good book on cryptography and look at some source code that is already been written in something other than batch script. If you must use some type of script language, use of some version of Visual Basic would seem to be appropriate. Visual Basic can be used as a Consul type program and behaves as if it were a DOS command program.
If you're interested in someone showing you how to do encryption with a version of Visual Basic script. Then just say so and there are experts here that bequeathed to show you how to get out they commandline script that actually will run Vb Script, and not just batch commands.
None of this is intended to insult you order hurt your feelings, is to help you wake up and see that the kind of program you want to do is not well-suited for DOS, unless you made a bet for somebody that you could do it anyway.
I assume that you are not doing this on a bet, but rather you want to learn something.
As for myself, I'm no longer able to give you specific instructions on coding, but I can explain to some of the concepts of what encryption is all about.

I really do hope this is of some help to you in your quest for knowledge.

[zask]

My goals aren't to learn encryption i'm just literally playing around with the language, i have no intention of learning C++,
as of yet. My desires aren't to create some super fancy encrypter. I understand that batch makes a lot of things difficult, i get the critisim thing but i'm not here for what you people want, i'm here to just simply learn anything, i cannot code C++, every computer i use is restricted from exe files, i have tried many portable compilers but they still do not work, i dont know why, i always run in to issues. and even if they do, simply do not have the time for C++. i code in cmd when i have nothing to do. I understand that he is well respected, i never said he wasn't, however just because i choose to play around in a language that i enjoy, doesn't mean im worthy of criticism, i understand there are better ways to go about what i'm trying to do, it honestly doesn't matter to me because im not trying to make something perfect, I just liked the encrypter and wanted to make it possible to encrypt multiple lines. Yes i do agree with both of your points but i just personally enjoy cmd, along time ago i used to go much further than cmd, maybe haven't exit scripts in general, but i learned more around the hand of autoit and autohotkey, which i cant do anymore because i don't own a working computer. each time i code i'm on a completely different computer, only get to code one day a week, cometimes not at all. i can't install autoit or autohot key to every single computer i get on. it's annoying, i just want to copy paste and run what i work on. Trust me, i clearly understand that cmd is one of those crappy languages that will never get you anywhere in life, it can be a little useful, but mostly, it's just crap. regardless it doesn't change how i feel.
all i want is just something to play around with to satisfy my boredom, that is the only reason i do this.

when i was younger i always wanted to be some super smart programmer, but as i grew, I've realized that the situations in my life are preventing me from having time to do such things, so i gave up, and now i just play around, just figuring out whatever and trying to get it to work.

[zask]

I know I use a lot of cammas, it's because I'm seed typing through school

[patio]

You don't wanna learn...but you wanna learn...thats what i got from your last comment.
But you don't have a PC.

[michaewlewis]

Here's one of the best resources available for you. The guys who created the MS-DOS batch file language.
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb490890.aspx

Check out Powershell next time you get a chance. It's basically the command line on steroids and is on every windows computer since.... Windows 7? There's a lot more that can be done with Powershell and is more valuable than batch if you ever decide to get into IT.
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/scriptcenter/dd742419
https://www.powershellgallery.com

[Geek-9pm]

Hey Michaewlewis,
Good Point! Microsoft crated Powershell for Administrators that do not want to learn a programming language per se.  Like you say, it is command on steroids.
Microsoft social also has this item of interest.
https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/scriptcenter/en-US/d1eccb40-3fae-4826-b469-d68aa13185a1/run-powershell-from-usb-stick?forum=ITCG
He could keep is personal scripts on a USB along with a copy pf Powers *censored*.  The link above will explain the EULA limitations that apply.

One why to get a very cheap PC device would be to get a  used Windows 8 phone, which is made by a company owned by Microsoft. Very limited, but it would give him the right to use Powershell on a USB.

The Windows phone I mean is the Nokia Lima. I can be bought for about $15 used on eBay. I got one, then stop using it when I found it would not upgrade to Windows 10. So you are stuck on windows 8. But it a legal Windows PC.

[patio]

He stated he doesn't have a PC...

Last i checked it was a requirement for runnin Powershell...unless that's changed.

[zask]

You don't wanna learn...but you wanna learn...thats what i got from your last comment.
But you don't have a PC.

I do but it's to pointless, I barely get to use a computer.
It doesn't take me long to understand how to do things, but I've I have very little time it's just not worth trying to learn things that take as much as time as c++

[zask]

When ever I make any changes to anything it takes a long time until I can. So horribly slow, it's depressing me honestly.

[zask]

Cmd and vbscript is honestly all I feel like I can have time for when I bored, of I use c++ I got to spend a long time installing code blocks or some other compiler, and I can't even do any of that at school, things are so difficult for me, I used to do so much and now I'm forgetting everything and I just don't want to give up.

[zask]

I thought of powershell but I thought you had to pay for it? I had one class with computers called career tech that had it on each computer but now I don't have that class I have to go to library which doesn't.

[zask]

Maybe it's blocked or I juse didn't actually look hard enough, or possibly I just have to make a work around because school makes it harder to access.

[michaewlewis]

He stated he doesn't have a PC...

Last i checked it was a requirement for runnin Powershell...unless that's changed.

He also said that he uses the computers at school..... How do you think he's learning batch? There's no requirement to own a computer to use powershell on a computer.

When ever I make any changes to anything it takes a long time until I can. So horribly slow, it's depressing me honestly.

You can sometimes find usable computers at thrift shops like Goodwill. Might have to make some repairs, but you might get lucky. Or visit a computer repair shop and ask if they have any old computers that you can have for free or trade for time or something else.

[BC_Programmer]

Yes, it should be possible to get *something*. I'd argue that Even a TRS-80 would be good for learning programming concepts on some level (Though I doubt you'd be able to find that...). I learned computers on a 286-based system when Pentium 4's were Yesterdays news, for example. In fact, that was when I first found this specific website, as the system wasn't even working properly and I eventually learned about needing to give it the Cylinders/heads/sectors/etc info about the HDD in the system to get it working, and CH had that information in the archives.

I doubt anybody is throwing away 286's these days, but something 10 years old or so will still do the job nicely.

I know the frustration when everybody assumes you have constant access to the computer and/or the Internet, as I dealt with much the same in High School over a decade ago. It probably wasn't even as bad then, but it was still very annoying. It should be possible to run up an old junker PC; perhaps a friend is upgrading or has an older PC sitting in their closet for example.

I've realized that the situations in my life are preventing me from having time to do such things, so i gave up

I'll level with you, You shouldn't. A lot of this is going to sound like pithy motivational gibberish- but what seems like impossible obstacles now, you will later learn were merely challenges to be overcome. I faced the same and had effectively done the same as well even before graduating- Where all my friends and classmates were figuring out what they wanted to do when they selected college courses, I didn't know what I wanted to do and Post-secondary was not going to be possible for me anyway- I basically figured I was screwed- I wasn't really good at anything that could be used for a career, and didn't even know what I wanted to do, and wouldn't be afforded to opportunity to find out via higher education. Then I found that 286 when I was 15-16 and found out that I didn't actually hate computers as much as I thought- I just didn't understand them. And I got more and more proficient with it and eventually was writing software for the school over summer break (it generated all the student accounts and printed out label sheets). But post-secondary was still off the table which I felt was an impossible obstacle. In fact I found it was an impossible obstacle- without a CS degree there wasn't much hope to make a living programming and even IT repair stuff needed some kind of degree or certification.

And, I mean, there wasn't - at least not right away. I ended up getting a rather crappy retail/food service job just to make a living but spent most of my spare time working on my personal projects, then started putting them on github and stuff. Occasionally I'd fire off a Letter of inquiry a resume, or cover letter or whatever to local software firms. I never expected any reply but you don't catch fish by crying into the ocean, or something.

I eventually did get two replies. One which led to an interview which led nowhere, and a second which led to the same which led to the job I've now had for coming up on 5 years next Feb.

You cannot be afraid of hard work. And I don't mean hard programming tasks. I mean, doing jobs and work that you don't want to do. You just have to always keep a focus on your goals. There will probably be moments of frustration that you aren't moving forward on those goals. You might start to wonder why you bother with working on these projects at all. That is all completely normal. maybe you'll hate your job. Welcome to life, but that's why you must always keep sight of that goal on the horizon- the hope for something better. It may seem entirely unreachable sometimes- and you don't even know if it is possible, but the only way to find out is to try.

And sometimes, it seems like the universe is screwing with you. That first Interview I got for a programming position? I thought I had made it. the Interview went perfectly as far as I could tell and still remember, but I never got a call-back either way. Hugely demoralizing.

And even when things seem to be looking up, you might find you have to just deal with certain things and hope for the best. The interview that led me to the position I have now was at an office that was a good 25 minute drive from where I lived. Not a problem- except not only did I not have any transportation, I didn't even have change for public transit. (I had actually quit aforementioned crappy job some time before, so things were pulled thin). So I had two options: cancel the interview and have zero chance of being hired, or, I could wake up at 6 AM and start walking to get there in time. No points awarded for figuring out which one I chose .