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vmilner commented on Essential Coding Theory [pdf]   cse.buffalo.edu/faculty/a... · Posted by u/ibobev
goku12 · 2 days ago
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.)

vmilner · 2 days ago
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".
vmilner commented on Essential Coding Theory [pdf]   cse.buffalo.edu/faculty/a... · Posted by u/ibobev
goku12 · 3 days ago
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.

vmilner · 3 days ago
Is the term codebreaking familiar to you?
vmilner commented on Essential Coding Theory [pdf]   cse.buffalo.edu/faculty/a... · Posted by u/ibobev
esafak · 3 days ago
Same for David MacKay's Information Theory, Inference, and Learning Algorithms https://www.inference.org.uk/itprnn/book.html
vmilner · 3 days ago
The video lectures are excellent too. Anyone interested in this stuff could do far worse than start here (though a little dated now - fundamentals fine though)

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLruBu5BI5n4aFpG32iMbd...

vmilner commented on Essential Coding Theory [pdf]   cse.buffalo.edu/faculty/a... · Posted by u/ibobev
goku12 · 3 days ago
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?
vmilner · 3 days ago
Secret code E.g. The Enigma code.
vmilner commented on Introduction to Digital Filters (2024)   ccrma.stanford.edu/~jos/f... · Posted by u/ofalkaed
stapedium · 2 months ago
I was hoping to see something on Kalman filters. But it was good to see info on state space analysis. Also good to see a simple example on why dynamic range compression is nonlinear. Would have been nice to see more info on what makes a system non-time invariant with examples.
vmilner · 2 months ago
vmilner commented on Father Ted Kilnettle Shrine Tape Dispenser   stephencoyle.net/kilnettl... · Posted by u/indiantinker
dylan604 · 3 months ago
BBC America is a thing since 1998

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBC_America

vmilner · 3 months ago
I forget that shows from non-BBC channels in the Uk can get shown on BBC America.
vmilner commented on After 25 Years, Linux Format Magazine Is No More   omgubuntu.co.uk/2025/05/l... · Posted by u/AdmiralAsshat
vmilner · 3 months ago
I got the Linux Answers “trial” magazine and then subscribed to Linux Format for ~20 years. Sorry to see it go :-(
vmilner commented on Father Ted Kilnettle Shrine Tape Dispenser   stephencoyle.net/kilnettl... · Posted by u/indiantinker
vmilner · 3 months ago
Did Father Ted have much impact in the US? - it always seems v British/Irish in its humour (but that’s true of Monty Python of course and that obviously made it over there)
vmilner commented on Gateway Books: The lessons of a defunct canon   thepointmag.com/examined-... · Posted by u/samclemens
khazhoux · 4 months ago
For many CS/math people, this is what Godel Escher Bach was. Read it at age 15 and it opens your mind to this alternate higher universe of amazing ideas.

I don't think most people who own it have actually read more than a chapter or two, but that's ok. Its essential function turned out to be to inspire and unlock a part of the young intellectual mind.

vmilner · 4 months ago
I got a lot more out of his Metamagical Themas (scientific american columns) collection book. Eg Lisp and making self-referential sentences (“This sentence contains three a’s, one b, …”)
vmilner commented on The movie mistake mystery from "Revenge of the Sith"   fxrant.blogspot.com/2025/... · Posted by u/CharlesW
vmilner · 4 months ago
I noticed watching the recent 4K release of The Terminator that the garage attendant in the final scene has a piece of paper in his top pocket with "There's a storm coming“ written upside down on it.

u/vmilner

KarmaCake day756October 26, 2011View Original