Objective: Develop a command$-$line tool in $C++$ that enables users to hide text messages within the least significant bits $($LSBs$)$ of an image file and subsequently extract these messages.

Project Description:

Design the program to interact with the user via the command line. It should prompt the user for input and output file names and whether they wish to encode or decode a message:

Encode:

$./$stego hide image.ppm text to hide.txt

In this case program reads image.ppm and hides the content of text$\_$to$\_$hide.txt in it$,$ properly handling the situation when files are not found or when there is not enough pixels in image.ppm to hide the whole text.

Decode:

$./$stego extract image.ppm output file.txt

In this case program reads image.ppm and extracts the hidden message to output$\_$file.txt$.$

Use bitwise operations to encode and decode the text message within the image data. Modify only the least significant bits of each color component $($red$,$ green, blue$)$ in the image pixels to embed the message, ensuring minimal visual alteration to the image. The program must include error checking to handle scenarios such as invalid file formats, image files that are too small to contain the intended message, and other potential errors that may arise during file reading$/$writing$.$

Technical Constraints: Utilize the things we have learned so far: functions, structs, pointers, Cstyle arrays, and dynamic memory allocation in your implementation. The use of advanced features such as classes, STL containers, or third$-$party libraries is not allowed for this assignment.