Re: Banging the Ada Drum.

[Martin <martin@thedowies.com>]

On Feb 28, 9:39 am, adacrypt <austin.oby...@hotmail.com> wrote:
> I have developed a world first in cryptography and a salient thing
> about this cipher is that it is written in Ada, any person wishing to
> understand it and use it has to do so through the medium of Ada at
> least for the first time round, before it is rewritten in other
> languages.
>
> The cryptography scene is a graveyard of failed enthusiasts so I had
> better explain a few things.
>
> I have based my cryptography design on the conviction that all current
> cryptography is weak because it uses the traditional real line as the
> number line i.e the selection domain for the raw encryption data that
> must somehow be transformed into ciphertext.  The upshot is that the
> natural transparency that characterises all mathematics continues to
> shine through in the ciphertext giving it residual structure that just
> won’t go away – it is indelible in all scalar cryptography.  The
> result is cryptography that is only “practically unbreakable” – strong
> enough for the time being in the absence of sufficient computer power
> that will break but vulnerable to the advent of sufficient computer
> power when and if that ever happens.  The big threat comes from
> quantum computing.
>
> My solution is to use spatial number theory and three-dimensional
> space as the selection domain for something that I am calling
> “displacement” cryptography instead of the current cryptography that I
> call “scalar” cryptography.
>
> I have developed an up-and-running cipher that I have placed in the
> public domain for the use of anybody who wants to do that.  This can
> be found for free downloading at,http://www.adacrypt.com/introduction.htmlunder the title box “ Free
> Software – Gnu General Public License – “Skew Line Encryptions”.
>
> Ada experts may see this program as being a bit gauche but let me
> explain that the object here is presenting the cryptography and the
> mathematics in an Ada setting without any attempt at elegance.  That
> can come later.
>
>  I deplore slick source code i.e. ultra short-form unintuitive code
> writing in any case but am open to optimising the operational speed of
> my cryptography by legitimately rewriting the source code if it does
> not affect the transparency of the cipher.
>
> Note, that this cipher is immune to increasing computer power for all
> time and it possesses the ultimate cryptographic strength of
> “Theoretically Unbreakable”.  It is a world first and is here to stay.
>
>  I would be interested in what readers think and equally what they can
> do to enhance this cipher without making it unreadable.  You are
> invited to modify it as you see fit and worthwhile.
>
> - adacrypt

I'm surprised you think this is readable!! Seriously, nesting loops
without indenting the inner loop is just plain _hard_to_read_ (and
ugly!). That's just one example.

Ada has a generally accepted style - please use it. Even just
selecting the default GNAT options and running it through their
"pretty printer" would make a huge difference... UPPERCASE keywords
haven't been 'good style' for nearly 20 years now (you haven't even
been consistent in that - see "ENd General_Decryption_Program_Mark_3;"
in the same file you've used "While" not "WHILE").

Apologies if this is work you had intended to do but why you don't
just adopt this as your normal method of working is beyond me.

On performance, case statements tend to be slower than constant lookup
tables. That should be an easy one to change and test.
-- Martin