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Code and ciphers: Julius Caesar, the Enigma and the internet

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<strong>the</strong> alphabet are represented by up to four ‘dots’ <strong>and</strong> ‘dashes’, <strong>the</strong> digits 0<br />

to 9 by five <strong>and</strong> certain punctuation symbols by six. To transmit a dot <strong>the</strong><br />

telegraph key is depressed for about one 24th of a second; for a dash <strong>the</strong><br />

key is depressed for about one 8th of a second; <strong>the</strong> interval between <strong>the</strong><br />

components of a letter is <strong>the</strong> same as that for a dot <strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong> interval<br />

between letters is equal to that for a dash. The Morse code was designed so<br />

that <strong>the</strong> most frequent letters in English had shorter transmission times<br />

than <strong>the</strong> less frequent letters. Thus E was represented by a single dot <strong>and</strong><br />

T by a single dash whereas J required four symbols, dot dash dash dash.<br />

The reason for this was to try to minimise <strong>the</strong> time required to transmit a<br />

message. The international wireless version of <strong>the</strong> letters of <strong>the</strong> Morse<br />

code is shown in Table 6.1.<br />

Table 6.1 Morse code<br />

A ·– E · I ·· M –– Q ––·– U ··– Y –·––<br />

B –··· F ··–· J ·––– N –· R ·–· V ···– Z ––··<br />

C –·–· G ––· K –·– O ––– S ··· W ·––<br />

D –·· H ···· L ·–·· P ·––· T – X –··–<br />

The Morse code was not, of course, designed to protect <strong>the</strong> secrecy of a<br />

message but merely to provide a means for transmitting it efficiently. A<br />

good wireless operator using this code would be able to transmit about 30<br />

average words per minute. As was mentioned in Chapter 1, <strong>the</strong>re are<br />

o<strong>the</strong>r codes which are designed to ensure <strong>the</strong> accuracy of messages or data<br />

ra<strong>the</strong>r than to preserve <strong>the</strong> secrecy of <strong>the</strong>ir contents. Among such codes<br />

are those used to transmit data from spacecraft or to store data in computer-readable<br />

form. If secrecy is not needed <strong>the</strong> details of <strong>the</strong> code will<br />

usually be available to anyone who wants <strong>the</strong>m. If secrecy as well as accuracy<br />

is required <strong>the</strong> details may not be made public <strong>and</strong> some form of<br />

encryption of <strong>the</strong> data will also be applied.<br />

One-part <strong>and</strong> two-part codes<br />

Most codes involve <strong>the</strong> use of a code-book, which may contain thous<strong>and</strong>s<br />

of code groups. A code used by <strong>the</strong> military would typically represent<br />

letters, numbers or phrases by code groups consisting of four or five<br />

letters or digits. It is not necessary that all <strong>the</strong> code groups contain <strong>the</strong><br />

same number of symbols; <strong>the</strong> famous Zimmermann telegram of January<br />

1917, which was deciphered by British cryptanalysts <strong>and</strong> which was a<br />

<strong>Code</strong>s 65

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