Editing 1323: Protocol
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==Explanation== | ==Explanation== | ||
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− | + | Alice, Bob, and Eve are role names traditionally used in describing cryptographic protocols. Rather than talking about "Person A", "Person B", "Person C", names beginning with each letter are used instead. Eve is short for "eavesdropper" - a person trying to find out what's being said in the conversations between the other people. The classic situation involves Alice wanting to send a secret message to Bob, while Eve (the eavesdropper), attempts to read the message, ideally without Alice or Bob ever finding out. Additional participants such as Carol (Person C) can be added if necessary. The list of names has become very standardised over time as described at {{w|Alice and Bob}}. | |
− | The | + | The joke here is that any computer scientist, hearing the names used, will think that they are listening to a cryptography problem. By changing the names in a story to these role names, you can induce them to listen carefully to boring stories. The fewer the interesting details, the more it sounds like a general problem, so very boring stories are actually the easiest. |
− | The | + | The title text shows a more radical approach to the problem, for people who do not feel comfortable about lying. In this approach, you only make friends with people who have the appropriate names already. |
− | In comic [[177: Alice and Bob]] these names are used in the same context. | + | In comic [[177: Alice and Bob]] these names are also used in the same context and we meet Eve. |
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+ | The title and the format of the conversation may also refer to {{w|Transmission Control Protocol}} (TCP), one of the key underlying protocols of the Internet. In TCP, every time you receive a packet of information, you must send a brief acknowledgement back, verifying that the packet was received. The computer scientist in the comic does the same thing verbally ("uh huh", et al). | ||
==Transcript== | ==Transcript== | ||
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:Cueball: Bob is delayed, and Alice and Eve meet. | :Cueball: Bob is delayed, and Alice and Eve meet. | ||
:Computer Scientist: Yeah? | :Computer Scientist: Yeah? | ||
− | + | :I've discovered a way to get computer scientists to listen to any boring story. | |
{{comic discussion}} | {{comic discussion}} | ||
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[[Category:Computers]] | [[Category:Computers]] | ||
[[Category:Cryptography]] | [[Category:Cryptography]] | ||
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