Editing 1323: Protocol
Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.
The edit can be undone.
Please check the comparison below to verify that this is what you want to do, and then save the changes below to finish undoing the edit.
Latest revision | Your text | ||
Line 8: | Line 8: | ||
==Explanation== | ==Explanation== | ||
− | {{ | + | {{incomplete|check grammar, explain better Alice and Bob, and adding links to other comics related with cryptography}} |
+ | 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 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 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 title text shows a more radical approach to the problem, for people | + | The title text shows a more radical approach to the problem, for the people who don't want to have to change the names. In this approach, you only make friends with people who have appropriate names already. |
− | + | In comic [[177: Alice and Bob]] these names are also used in the same context and we meet Eve. | |
− | |||
− | In comic [[177: Alice and Bob]] these names are used in the same context | ||
==Transcript== | ==Transcript== | ||
Line 26: | Line 25: | ||
: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}} | ||
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]] | [[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]] | ||
[[Category:Computers]] | [[Category:Computers]] | ||
− | |||
− |