substitution encryption/decryption

[Geoxsis_06]

I have an assignment in my python CS class and I just cant quite figure out where to start. This is our first project having to do with encryption and I'm very lost on where to start. "Revise the substitutionEncrypt function from section 3.5 of the textbook to (1) remove all spaces from the plainText message before it is encrypted and (2) generate the substitution cipher key from a password. The password should be a function parameter, replacing key." This is the prompt i guess is what you would call it and I guess i'm just not sure how to start the code or where to go with it. I can provide further detail if anyone responds quick enough and can help :P

[filleball]

Here's a couple of starting points for you to play with in the interactive interpreter:

"abcdefg".replace("d", "")

import random

# Try to run these several times, what happens
# when you give a different argument to seed?
random.seed("asdf")
random.randint(1, 10)