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Essential Coding Theory [pdf]

(cse.buffalo.edu)
373 points ibobev | 1 comments | 29 Aug 25 15:53 UTC | HN request time: 0.204s | source
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umvi ◴[29 Aug 25 16:16 UTC] No.45066011[source]▶
Note this is "coding" as in "encoding" and "decoding" (i.e. information theory) and not as in "programming"
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madcaptenor ◴[29 Aug 25 16:56 UTC] No.45066539[source]▶
Also not as in "cryptography".
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goku12 ◴[29 Aug 25 17:18 UTC] No.45066828[source]▶
Just curious. I can see how anyone may confuse coding with programming. And coding is related to cryptography through information theory. But what makes you think of cryptography when you hear coding? How does that confusion arise?
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vmilner ◴[29 Aug 25 17:27 UTC] No.45066960[source]▶
Secret code E.g. The Enigma code.
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goku12 ◴[29 Aug 25 18:07 UTC] No.45067472[source]▶
Hmm.. I see what you mean. But I'm not able to relate to it personally. Whenever I hear enigma, the next word that comes to mind is 'cipher', not 'code'. The second word is 'algorithm' and still not 'code'. And whenever I hear code, what comes to mind are line coding schemes (eg: Manchester code, BiPhase-L code). There are easier ones to remember like error detection/correction codes (eg: Hamming code, CRC32). But I still think of line codes for some odd reason.

The problem with information theory is that it's very easy to get things mixed up hopelessly, unless you decide in advance what each term means. There are too many similar concepts with similar names.

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1. jolmg ◴[29 Aug 25 18:50 UTC] No.45067940[source]▶
In some languages, it may be more common than in English to refer to passwords with the counterpart word to "code" (e.g. "access code"). There's also the idea of a "coded"/"encoded"/"encrypted" message. "coding" ~ "secrecy" ~ "cryptography".