NOTES ON CODE

notes

The difference between codes and ciphers:

"Most familiar 'codes' are really ciphers. The Morse 'code' is a ciphers; so are most 'codes' of military importance. In a trude code, symbols stand for ideas. The no-smoking glyph of a cigarette in a red circle with a dash through it is an example; so are dozens of other international symbols seen in airports and other public places. A code attaches meaning to individual symbols.

"It is difficult to express oneself in code. A code has symbols only for the common words and messages that have been anticipated by the designer of the code. Codes are awkward, often useless, in communicating the unexpected. For that reason the important military, espionage, and diplomatic codes are ciphers."

William Poundstone. Labyrinths of Reason. 1988.

references

Brin, David

The Transparent Society: Will Technology Force Us to Choose Between Privacy and Freedom?

D'Imperio, M. E.

The Voynich Manuscript: An Elegant Enigma. 1980.

Originally published by the NSA in 1978. Reprinted by Aegean Park Press in 1980.

Hodges, Andrew

Alan Turing: The Enigma. 1983.

Kahn, David

The Codebreakers; The Comprehensive History of Secret Communication from Ancient Times to the Internet. Rev. ed. 1996.

This is the definitive history of the first few thousand years of cryptography. At nearly 1200 pages it is considered by many as the 'bible' of cryptology. Very browsable i.e. not necessary to read from cover to cover. For up-to-date information see Schneider's 'Applied Cryptography'.

Poe, Edgar Allan

The Gold Bug. 1843.

Classic tale by Edgar Allan Poe. Originally published in Philadelphia in 'The Dollar Newspaper' (June 1843). Collected in 'The Fall of the House of Usher and Other Stories'. A copy of the 'The Gold Bug' is available online. See also: Richard Power's 'The Gold Bug Variations'

Schneider, Bruce

Applied Cryptography: Protocols, Algorithms, and Source Code in C. 2nd ed (expanded). 1996.

The single most comprehensive, understandable, and useful text on modern cryptography.

Stoll, Clifford

The Cuckoo's Egg: Tracking a Spy Through the Maze of Computer Espionage. 1990.

urls

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