rotor alternative?

[Bengt Richter]

On Wed, 19 Nov 2003 09:09:54 -0700, "Dave Brueck" <dave at pythonapocrypha.com> wrote:
[...]
>>
>> If it's really for obfuscation, wouldn't a simpler algorithm be
>> sufficient, such as "XOR each byte with 0x5A" or something like that?
>>
>> If the answer is "no, that's too easy to break", then it's not really
>> just for obfuscation, is it?
>
>I understand what you mean, but obfuscation _is_ a form of encryption, just one
>that's understood to be on the weak side (so the above may be considered "too
>weak"). Rather than being _either_ obfuscation _or_ encryption, they really are
>just different points on a broad data protection spectrum.
>
IMO that ignores an important disctinction. I.e.,
obfuscation may be a lossy transformation (or conceivably noise-introducing for that matter)
(e.g., like stripping comments, compiling to eliminate source info, etc.) whereas encryption
ISTM must guarantee recoverability of all the bits.

Regards,
Bengt Richter