[Edu-sig] Re: Edu-sig digest, Vol 1 #172 - 5 msgs

[Dorothea Salo]

> def permute():
>     """
>     Randomly permute the uppercase alphabet
>     by choosing its letters pseudo-randomly
>     """
>     alphalist = list(string.uppercase)
>     newlist = []
>     for i in range(len(alphalist)):
>         randchar = random.choice(alphalist)
>         alphalist.remove(randchar)
>         newlist.append(randchar)
>     return newlist
>
> def mkdict():
>     """
>     Pair uppercase alphabet with randomly permuted
>     version of same
>     """
>     tuples = zip(string.uppercase,permute())
>     codedict = {}
>     for pair in tuples:
>         codedict[pair[0]]=pair[1]
>     return codedict

    The above algorithms, if I'm reading them correctly, allow a character
to be substituted by itself. I assume this is desirable behavior (since it
increases the number of permutations), but perhaps someone could comment on
how often self-substitution could be expected to happen, and how likely it
might be that self-substitution would cause the "encrypted" result to be
easier to human-decode. (Self-substitution of "e" seems more likely to ease
decryption than self-substitution of "z," but I'm just guessing.)

    Of course, most Cryptoquoters assume that self-substitution is
explicitly disallowed, so it might actually be considered a "feature" in
this context...

    (I can think of a couple of ways to disallow self-substitution, but I
think the Python is less interesting than the problem.)

Dorothea
--
Dorothea Salo
Impressions Book and Journal Services, Inc.
phone: (608) 244-6218  fax: (608) 244-7050
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