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October 20, 2005
Is there a mistake in Challenge 4B?
Errrr. No there isn't. Maybe you need to study Samuel's code a bit more. I'll be a bit less cryptic later. All the best,
Posted by Harry at October 20, 2005 05:17 PM
Comments
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Hey Margaret try this link
http://www.allfreetutorials.com/index.htm
Some of the sites listed are apparently very good. I dont know though as I use vb.net
Posted by: Steve Lamerton at October 24, 2005 12:36 PM
Thanks for the help with programming software. The only problem is that I have absolutely NO idea how to use any of them. Does anyone know of any websites/books/tutorials etc that I would be able to understand (i.e. VERY simple instructions)?
Posted by: Margaret at October 24, 2005 11:45 AM
VB.NET all the way for me. It is my main programming language and it is so powerful it is unbelieveable. I have a beta version of Visual Studio.NET 2005 which is what I use as my IDE. Is great I get all of the features and it is free.
Posted by: Steve Lamerton at October 23, 2005 05:05 PM
If you know Action Script then surely you know javascript, they're basically the same, just javascript controls html elements and action script flash elements, but in terms of number/cipher crunching, I can't see that the code would be all that different.
Personnally I used to use perl, but, as with all interpreted languages, opposed to compiled, it's too slow for some methods of cracking ciphers, so now I use c++. I like it because you can do object orientated programming in it, or spaghetti orientated, if you so wish, aswell as that it's just a nice language and lends itself well to cipher breaking.
Posted by: tom at October 22, 2005 08:46 PM
We make our lil scripts in Flash, but only because AS (the flash programming language) is the only thing we know in any depth. AS is a slow language(execution-wise), but we're not using any brute force techniques so it's not a problem.
Posted by: Jack at October 22, 2005 05:07 PM
I use Pascal (using Virtual Pascal IDE) and a couple of macros. The great thing about macros is you barely need to be able to do any programming for some of it - just press 'record'. Microsoft Office has Macros so you only need that.
Posted by: Ruth at October 22, 2005 04:22 PM
One of the best Software tools for writing Java programs is Eclipse
http://www.eclipse.org/downloads/index.php
It is free and is used by 1000s of programmers worldwide.
Posted by: Jonathan at October 22, 2005 01:57 PM
OK, the first thing you need to start writing programs is software development tools, which usually aren't free. Anyone know what is free? Visual Studio 6 has a good collection of these, including VB6, the one I use, and Java etc. The newest one is Visual Studio.NET which is quite different so I hear for VB. Try ebay or something if you want to buy. I think you should go for the professional version, but some may argue with that.
And if you already have something, you need to say. Then there should be at least one person able to help you in that language.
Posted by: Jason at October 22, 2005 12:36 PM
Hi,
I was just wondering if anybody could post some tips about creating programs for cracking the challenge. I would really like to learn this, but don't know where to start!
Posted by: Margaret at October 21, 2005 08:45 PM
I got it in time with 16 seconds left! Phew. Another good source of interesting information is the Oxford English Dictionary, which might help you think laterally. I supposed that is why they had such a diverse bunch of people at Bletchley Park - coming at it from a different perspective really does help :)
Posted by: cecil at October 21, 2005 08:11 PM
I'm using C#, it's the one I first learnt and so its how my mind has adapted to think about solutions to the problems. One of my safety features I write into my programs is that if something possible yet unexpected happens I get a large flashing message (not actually but you get the point) saying "look closely at this, it needs some thinking about." I found that with this challenge - first of all, if I'm allowed to say, the using numbers instead of dots and dashes, and secondly the missing parts from my program. A tip for those still trying 4B: do 4A, and if you can't think what to do, try something and see if it works!
Posted by: Richard at October 21, 2005 06:57 PM
Oh no! My connection is painfully slow and I just hope that by the official Southampton clock I submitted before 6pm, cos I had decrypted it by then, it was just my less-than-crap connection that was the weakest link. Goodbye.
For those that are struggling with 0000, I suggest stocking up on random books like "Das Buch der Schrift" cos they are very useful in a cryptanalsis crisis.
Posted by: cecil at October 21, 2005 06:04 PM
For those of you who don't know about the ----, I suggest looking up several morse code pages on google. Eventually you should find one that helps!
I personally use PHP to help me with replacing letters and processing morse code, as it's the language that I am most knowledgeable in.
Posted by: Jon Dawson at October 21, 2005 05:12 PM
I'm programming in VB this year (and last year), generally my programs work the easy ciphers out in < 1 second, but 4B took a lot of thinking! If you have a lot of plaintext, try looking at some of your meaningless text and finding some more cribs. If you notice a pattern, you are on the way. As for the ---- bit, keep struggling!
Posted by: Ian at October 21, 2005 05:05 PM
It would be interesting to see how many people here are using programming languages. I would presume that the majority of people who are first do.
Posted by: Enigma at October 21, 2005 04:12 PM
Richard and Ruth-
Yes, automatic programs are great (I find javascript easiest - anybody new to coding can just buy a cheap book and be an expert in 24 hours!) and you can very easily adapt them to your needs. But sometimes they go wrong! (As they have with people stuck on the ----) That's why we shouldn't just rely on them.
Posted by: harry de voil at October 21, 2005 02:44 PM
If you're stuck, look at Harry's message about 'the new toy to transcribe the soviet morse code'. The answer to most of you problems is hidden there!
Posted by: Margaret at October 21, 2005 01:34 PM
I agree with Ruth and Harry de Voil, writing your own programs helps A LOT. Even a novice at coding like myself can easily write a program to demorse a txt file. As soon as I noticed the inconsistency with my output, I searched the web, found the problem, and corrected my program with 1 line. For the first 3 challenges I made a simple letter for letter converter with an included frequency analysis function, and I completed them within seconds rather than minutes or hours. The only problem is I don't know which ciphers are going to be used in the next challenges :x
Posted by: Richard at October 21, 2005 01:10 PM
Can sum1 help me? im stuck on part 4B. How do u translate the numbers into letters? Pleasepleasepleaseplease help me!!!!!
Posted by: Trivun at October 21, 2005 12:11 PM
This is where writing your own programs is useful - it is easy to modify them.
Posted by: Ruth at October 21, 2005 09:37 AM
Finally! I was almost ready to give up, but I had ago without decrypting the ---- and it worked (almost) so I have it!
Posted by: Ruth at October 21, 2005 09:36 AM
And for those who have the first bit right, then it goes haywire, don't use an automatic morse code translator, it might (will) help!
Posted by: harry de voil at October 21, 2005 07:46 AM
The first third of my 4B is fine and then it all goes wrong! What's happened?
Posted by: Bob at October 20, 2005 11:53 PM
how do you translate the number morse code thing to letters??
Posted by: raz at October 20, 2005 10:42 PM
well, cipher 4b is not so hard once you think about it. excel or a spreadsheet might help you.
Harry, i know you've been away, how long will it be until the prizewinners for 2 and 3 are announced???
Posted by: laura at October 20, 2005 10:39 PM
It's not as hard as it first seems, one piece of information ought to trigger a connection somewhere 'up there' and it'll suddenly click!
Posted by: josh at October 20, 2005 10:34 PM
Jack... I agree. I hate these ciphers - there are so many diff keys. Easy for those with the rule but for us, they're just on big *n**r*m.
Posted by: cecil at October 20, 2005 10:14 PM
This is frustrating, I have the cipher text out of morse ( i understand the ----,), but I'm stumped about the cipher, I mean, I won't say what cipher is used, but theres so many diff ways to do it... not as in keys, but as in actual methods, driving me crazy >:(.
Posted by: Jack at October 20, 2005 10:05 PM
Samuel Morse was the inventor of the Morse Code.
Posted by: Jonathan at October 20, 2005 09:06 PM
wtf is going on with 4b??
Posted by: i at October 20, 2005 09:03 PM
Woohooo I did it at last! But I still don't get the ---- thing: the rest of my message is fine but I don't know what to do with the dashes. Should I fill in the blanks (as there are obvious words that could fit there) or leave a gap, or what?
Posted by: Lucy at October 20, 2005 08:57 PM
Is it Russian or something?
Posted by: Ruth at October 20, 2005 08:45 PM
which is samuels code???????????????????????????????/
Posted by: gaby at October 20, 2005 08:43 PM
I have worked out the cipher, but when separating the words, the first half worked fine, but the second half was just nonsense!! what have i done wrong?
Posted by: chloe at October 20, 2005 08:12 PM
I finally finished both of the challenges! For all those stuck at Challenge B don't ignore the 0000/1111. They aren't mistakes.
Posted by: Rob at October 20, 2005 07:40 PM
what kind of cipher is it
Posted by: jord o yeah at October 20, 2005 07:13 PM
ok. 4b. we are having major issues...we are SO close...like 99% is correct and makes sense but then there are odd letters that just dont read right and we cant figure it out! :-S
Posted by: at October 20, 2005 07:10 PM
Maybe you need to study Samuel's code a bit more?
whats that??
Posted by: tuna at October 20, 2005 06:25 PM
what type of code is 4a
Posted by: muhu at October 20, 2005 05:57 PM
With or without padding characters???
Posted by: Richard at October 20, 2005 05:52 PM