h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

To my addled mind, if it can be coded, it can be decoed.
So if it can be decoded, it can be decoded without the "key" (by repeated trial and error).

As someone (Emerson the inventor, as opposed to Emerson the poet, I believe) once said "I haven't failed, I have just found several thousand ways which don't succeed."

So if they keep typing then eventaully the monkeys will write Hamlet, or decode the message.

On the premise that even the owner eventually wants to go public (no longer cares, loses interest, or whatever) my guesss is that if you can code it so that by the time it's decoded it's "public domain" then the coding is good enough.

Good thought.

Thanks for this entry - it's excellent. Ciphers are a perennial subject of interest, especially to computer folk.

A proofreading note:

>>But it will alway be difficult to measure the effect<<

Should be 'always', I think?

Just read the article all the way through with a less addled brain.

Great entry - look forward to reading the referenced links.

Thanks Dmitri, we'll correct that...

How about Black Monkeys and Shakespeare?

Think carefully.

Answer intelligently.

What sayest thou? (What say you?)