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Essential Coding Theory [pdf]

(cse.buffalo.edu)
373 points ibobev | 3 comments | 29 Aug 25 15:53 UTC | HN request time: 0.002s | 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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vmilner ◴[30 Aug 25 07:53 UTC] No.45072768[source]▶
Is the term codebreaking familiar to you?
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1. goku12 ◴[30 Aug 25 13:45 UTC] No.45074655[source]▶
Same situation. I get it. But not able to relate to it personally. The term I use consistently for it is 'cryptanalysis'. I have done it for some very simple ciphers. But I don't remember using the term 'codebreaking' to describe it. I have also done 'decoding' in some cases. But those didn't have anything to do with ciphers or encryption.

There is a possibility that most people pick up those ideas from their everyday language, while I got mine from formal education (English isn't my first language, though my proficiency in English is higher than for my first language). Either that or I completely forgot those terms at some point in my life and got replaced with the formal terms instead. (It's a slightly puzzling personal peculiarity.)

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2. vmilner ◴[30 Aug 25 17:59 UTC] No.45076712[source]▶
There's nothing wrong with these terms, its just that in popular conversation, the "secret" code usage would be quite common. For instance I just googled "enigma machine documentary" and I've seen around twenty separate occurrences of "code" and only a single "cipher".
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3. goku12 ◴[01 Sep 25 08:03 UTC] No.45090601[source]▶
Yes. It's probably my personal peculiarity due to the way I originally learned and practiced it. Though, I wonder how it is for full-time practitioners of crypto design/analysis. Many of the terms are loaded and you've to be pretty careful about what you express and interpret.