Ciphers was originally written in C# against the Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 using Microsoft Visual Studio 2005. As of version 4.1, the application has been compiled against the Microsoft .NET Framework 4.0 Client Profile using Visual Studio 2010. Version 4.1 has roughly 12,000 lines of code in the application and its associated class library.
Motivating the application's design was the Cryptology course at Northern Kentucky University in the Fall semester of 2006. When first created, the program was called "Caesar Ciphers" and its purpose was to speed the analysis of a ciphertext's shift value. However, as the ciphers presented in the class became more sophisticated, so did the program. As a result, the program gained the ability to do affine ciphers and multiplicative ciphers... and the name was changed to "Ciphers."
The application has gained additional features and functionality over the intervening time... and new features are still added as a needed.