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From: Mark Carroll <mtbc@bcs.org>
Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada
Subject: Re: Ada Connections to this Crypto.
Date: Mon, 15 Dec 2014 14:27:10 +0000
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Date: 2014-12-15T14:27:10+00:00
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Austin Obyrne <austin.obyrne@hotmail.com> writes:

> This is due to the innate complexity of the binary number system.  In
> cryptography complexity is seen as a measurable property and
> cryptography that uses complexity to obfuscate reality is simply
> called complexity-theoretic.

The conventional choice to use binary / bytes is not an attempt to
increase complexity. It has nothing to do with causing confusion and
diffusion, etc. I actually find the binary approach simpler for some
kinds of analysis because I can reduce many ciphers to a composition of
simple logic gates.

> Back in the 60'/70's the US government ordained that ASCII would be
> the standard in all communications - I applaud that decision and I see
> nothing whatever wrong with ASCII - I like it.

I'd thus guess that you're in North America or perhaps Australia? For
most people in the world, ASCII is missing many common useful symbols.

(snip)
> Common sense says that since all known number theory is decimal based
> there are many more possibilities for cipher ideas (hope this doesn't
> open another stream of petulance) out there in the decimal world than
> in the binary world.

You probably need to be careful how you use the phrase "number theory":
the conventional version is /not/ specifically decimal-based. Everything
from perfect numbers to the Euclidean algorithm to the Chinese remainder
theorem to the law of quadratic reciprocity work just as well in binary
as they do in decimal. It sounds like you're actually talking about
something more like elementary school arithmetic.

> In any case common sense says there are more opportunities in decimal
> mathematics than in binary.

No serious cryptographer is going to look at your algorithm until you
have shown mathematically why it resists linear and differential
cryptanalysis. You'll find rather more of them over on sci.crypt than
here. (Ada has no special claim on ASCII.)

-- Mark