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Code that helped end Apartheid

(www.wired.com)
358 points impish9208 | 1 comments | 18 Oct 24 13:05 UTC | HN request time: 0.001s | source
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rsynnott ◴[18 Oct 24 13:53 UTC] No.41879490[source]▶
You know it's _proper_ vintage crypto code because it uses the now very unfashionable word 'encipher'.
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quuxplusone ◴[18 Oct 24 14:46 UTC] No.41879923[source]▶
Funny but also thought-provoking! When did the verb "encipher" give way to "encrypt," and why? I might enjoy reading a well-researched piece on that subject.
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jgrahamc ◴[18 Oct 24 14:49 UTC] No.41879953[source]▶
I don't know why but here's when: https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=encipher%2Cenc...
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1. pbsd ◴[19 Oct 24 00:25 UTC] No.41884646[source]▶
An interesting data point is that Kahn's The codebreakers, from 1967, uses "encipher" everywhere except for various US goverment agency quotes, which use "encrypt."