Trance on 10/1/2009 at 22:21
Quote Posted by Fringe
What if there are people who can Internet better than me?
I can pwn your face off in Internet.
dvrabel on 11/1/2009 at 00:49
Quote Posted by Ulukai
How do you think these competent people became competent in the first place? By experimenting with their own programs and learning from their mistakes.
No, if you know little about a engineering, scientific or mathematical field (such as cryptography) then you need to
learn about it -- read a book, attend courses or lectures, or ask someone more experienced.
jtr7 on 11/1/2009 at 01:18
If you want to do it that way, sure. If a career specializing in this kind of thing is the goal. Learning is not dependent on taking a course, nor learning from others, but a career requires keeping up with the state of the art, or patented innovation. Exploration's much more fun than just being told about others' experiences. What's the end goal, here, a career, a hobby?
june gloom on 11/1/2009 at 03:18
When you're acting so elitist in TTLG that other people take notice it's time to rethink your life.
Fringe on 11/1/2009 at 03:55
But what if my life is beneath me?
Morte on 11/1/2009 at 12:07
dvrabel's right though. That encryption will fall on its face in the blink of an eye. There's little point in reinventing the wheel by dicking around with the most banal of substitution ciphers when there's tons of information about cryptography out there already. Go read the DES or AES specs and try to implement one of those instead, and to understand the mathematical basis as well, if you want some practise, and a program that's actually useful.
dvrabel on 11/1/2009 at 12:31
It's not elitist to say you need to read a book before trying to do something complex, it's good advice.
If I had no knowledge of structural engineering and I built a cardboard bridge you wouldn't walk on it because you know that cardboard is unlikely to be strong enough. RavynousHunter's encryption software is like the cardboard bridge, except it more difficult to see that it is cardboard and not steel.
If you want to write security software as a hobby without learning anything about cryptography then at the very least stick a "probably cardboard, don't use" label on it.
Fingernail on 11/1/2009 at 13:47
Well, I think hardly anyone was going to pick this program up and encode all their personal financial records with it before placing them in a publically accessible location.
Shug on 11/1/2009 at 14:25
speak for yourself
zombe on 11/1/2009 at 14:29
Quote Posted by Ulukai
How do you think these competent people became competent in the first place? By experimenting with their own programs and learning from their mistakes.
Cryptography is not a field for experimentation!!! It is a field for mathematics. Do not confuse cryptography with obfuscation.
That said ... i myself made that mistake a long time ago. Shit happens.
