import string


def start_alphabet(alphabet_size):
    """
    Create an alphabet of a given size, for the output of the algorithm

    :param alphabet_size: the size of the alphabet
    :type alphabet_size: int

    :return: an alphabet of a given size
    :rtype: list
    """
    # Note strings and lists can be treated equivalently
    # Strings are lists of characters
    return list(string.ascii_uppercase)[0:alphabet_size]