ord converts the string into ascii number which for this case m = 109

I agree that, especially in a professional setting, cramming everything into one line isn't necessarily the most practical approach if many people will have to write code. Glad you brought this up!

An additional question for you: I'm new to Ruby-- what's the point of making your helper method decodeWord private? Thanks!

I have a question on how your code works. Where does the 109 after ord come from?