wcs> Cypher gets spelled both ways, but in the cryptography world it's more common than cipher, probably.
Hmm.. Perhaps you could point me to a reference, I have NEVER seen it (mis)spelled Cypher.
Peace
"Cypherpunks" is to "Cyberpunks" as "Cipherpunks" is to "Ciberpunks." And "cypher" is a perfectly fine alternate spelling of "cipher," used almost exclusively in Britain, and other Empire colonies. Since much of modern crypto (I mean, "cripto") derived from British work (Turing, Colossus, Bletchley Park, Enigma), a kind of homage. Consult any dictionary before saying you have "NEVER" seen it "(mis)spelled" that way. The first reason, the resonance with cyberpunks, was clearly the main reason Jude Milhon ("St. Jude" of "Mondo 2000") quipped: "You guys are just a bunch of cypherpunks." The name stuck. --Tim May -- .......................................................................... Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money, tcmay@netcom.com | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero 408-688-5409 | knowledge, reputations, information markets, W.A.S.T.E.: Aptos, CA | black markets, collapse of governments. Higher Power: 2^859433 | Public Key: PGP and MailSafe available. "National borders are just speed bumps on the information superhighway."
% telnet chem.ucsd.edu Trying 132.239.68.1... Connected to chem.ucsd.edu. Escape character is '^]'. Accel UNIX (chem.ucsd.edu) login: webster Last login: Sun Mar 13 11:38:36 from 146.122.132.195 Word: cypher cy-pher chiefly Brit var of CIPHER Word: cipher 1ci-pher \'suE-fer\ n, often attrib [ME, fr. MF cifre, fr. ML cifra, fr. Ar s.ifr empty, cipher, zero] (14c) 1a: ZERO 1a 1b: one that has no weight, worth, or influence: NONENTITY 2a: a method of transforming a text in order to conceal its meaning -- compare CODE 3b 2b: a message in code 3: ARABIC NUMERAL 4: a combination of symbolic letters; esp: the interwoven initials of a name 2cipher vb ci-phered; ci-pher-ing \-f(e-)ri{nj}\ vi (1530) :to use figures in a mathematical process ~ vt 1: ENCIPHER 2: to compute arithmetically Word: Connection closed by foreign host.
participants (2)
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Matthew J Ghio -
tcmay@netcom.com