python ascii fun (handy for The Talos Principle)

ascii.py

def numToBinary(N):
   if N==0: return ''
   else: return numToBinary(N/2)+str(N%2)

def asciiString(S):
   rtn = ""
   next = ""
   for e in S:
       next = numToBinary(ord(e))
       next = (8-len(next))*'0' + next + ' '
       rtn += next
   return rtn[:-1] # leave out the final space bc why not
   
def hexString(S):
   rtn = ""
   next = ""
   for e in S:
       rtn += hex(ord(e))[2:] + ' '
   return rtn[:-1] # leave out the final space bc why not

def binaryToNum(N):
   if N=='': return 0
   else: return 2*binaryToNum(N[:-1])+int(N[-1])

def readAscii(S):
   rtn = ""
   hold = S.split()
   for n in hold:
       rtn += chr(binaryToNum(n))
   return rtn

def readHex(S):
   rtn = ""
   hold = S.split()
   for n in hold:
       rtn += chr(int(n, 16))
   return rtn

def readBinary(S):
    rtn = ""
    hold = S.split()
    for n in hold:
        rtn += chr(binaryToNum(n))
    return rtn

live version at http://repl.it/5tE/4