Re: simple math question


<tom@xxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:30ed6055-e526-4926-8981-18c86cdd63e1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

No offense, but he didn't ask for books to read. Just listing the
contents of your bookshelf isn't going to help things.

People like Antony [and the other random trolls] genuinely make use of
the fact that they can just ask anything here and people will respond
[regardless of repetition, obviousness, or lack of perceived
progress].

So people like pubkeybreaker are dead on then they direct people to re-
examine their process. It's not enough to tell them "hey read this
book, or read that book" you really need to first drill in that
"USENET WILL NOT EDUCATE YOU" they need to take it upon themselves to
find stuff to read and study. It's not like it's impossible to find.
I taught myself quite a bit about cryptography before I was even
finished high school and before the net was nearly as big. In fact
when I started, the "net" was something that my high school had in a
lab with 10 or so really old Macs.

So the resources are out there. They're not hard to find, they just
have to look for them. And so long as people like you will answer
every single little question they ever ask ... they'll never change.

And that said, someone with their obvious lack of knowledge of
computer science, algorithms and math, let alone crypto, should NOT be
designing algorithms. Not because "oh, they're not cool enough to
play with the big boys" but because they're really reaching and won't
learn anything from the process. They're missing so many pieces that
they won't be able to make sense of anything they "discover." In the
end, it'll be one tired "experiment" [and I use that term lightly]
after another with no end in sight.

To Antony: Honestly, and without reservation, stop trying to design
algorithms or whatever. Learn computer science first. Learn about
algorithms like sorting, searching. Learn math. Learn about
cryptanalysis, etc. Above all, be resourceful. The net is big, and
r> esources are plenty.

If a 15/16 yr old can be learning about differential cryptanalysis
[among other things] in a high school library in 1997 [30 minutes at
time...], then surely to god, anyone can find the material and learn
in 2009. Heck, I have more bandwidth [and ram for that matter] on my
cell phone than I did when my family finally got net in the late 90s.

USENET will still be here when you get back.

Tom

Criticism noted, and not entirely inaccurate either. I topped Comp Sci in
high school, I didn't study it at all in college. I'm a general programmer,
my interest in cryptography didn't really 'spark' until after college. I do
have problems learning some things, which I get around (much to everyone
elses chargrin) by asking a lot of the same questions in different ways so I
can fully articulate what I am learning, or attempting to learn. My
knowledge of math is somewhat bizarre as I have no problems with the basic
stuff, or even some physical math, but some of the things in between I have
problems with. I am also somewhat forgetful from time to time causing me to
re-ask things a dozen or so times. I don't know how asking which of 2 sums
is correct translates to me having a lack of knowledge of basic math is
beyond me, but ok I may need to brush up on things a little, no argument
from me there. My algorithm has taken MANY different forms over the few
years i've been taking it seriously (I redesign parts of it based on things
I learn or achieve a greater understanding of). Things that I HAVE learnt
include s-box's linear bitshifts, correct use of keys, creating a key at
runtime, the use of polynomials (to a small extent), the use of salts,
nonce, some forms of cryptanalysis (brute force, related key, as yet I
haven't had a serious look at the others and they will likely take me months
to learn), and the list goes on. It's a case of "a little knowledge can be
dangerous in the wrong hands". I don't know it all, hell I don't even know a
quarter of it.


.

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