On Thu, 09 Jan 2003 23:39:08 GMT, "Bob Schmall" <rschmall@wi.rr.com> wrote:
> ><JohnSanford@attbi.com> wrote in message >news://s7er1v08kagjj5fs3o6okuupp89kinhf7a@4ax.com... >> On Thu, 9 Jan 2003 08:22:51 -0500, "Yossarian" <someone@microsoft.com> >> wrote: >> >> The graduate with a Science degree asks, "Why does it work?" >> >> The graduate with an Engineering degree asks, "How does it work?" >> >> The graduate with an Accounting degree asks, "How much will it cost?" >> >> The graduate with a Liberal Arts degree asks, "Do you want fries with >> >> your Big Mac?" >> >> >> > >> >Suppose someone had a rigorous education in modern languages, history, >and >> >philosophy. That education should give a liberal arts major enough >> >background to do something in international relations. Bletchly Park used >> >Liberal Arts graduates for their decryption program of the Enigma code. >Do >> >you think a liberal arts degree that included linguistic skills would >have >> >some strength to it? At the very least these are the makings for a good >> >lawyer or a CIA spook(Is that a good thing?) from such a bachelaureate. >> >> Nice try. Enigma was broken by MATH brains, not language. If you >> understood anything about encryption you would know that it has >> nothing to do with language and everything to do with math. > >The following is from the "American Heritage New History of World War Two," >revised asnd updated by Stephen Ambrose, but the basic information first >came from Ronald Lewin in "Ultra Goes to War" 1978: > >"The German machine was called Enigma. It involved a series of revolving >drums that were so complex that there were several million possibilites for >each encoded message. Listening to the message was simple; it was sent by >radio. Breaking the message however, required two things: and exact >dup[licate of the Enigma machine and the key to the settings. The Germans >were certain that the Allies had neither. Buit in fact the British had two >Enigma machines, given to them by Polish intelligence agents in 1939, just >as Poland was being overrun. And at Bletchley park in England, the British >built was hass been called the first computer, which allowed them to break >the key and thus read the German messages. They called the system Ultra." > >Looks like some British computer geeks built Enigma and decoded things, >rather than mathemeticians.
Uh, OK. And what exactly do computer geeks study?
I'll give you a hint, computer science is 100% math. Anyone who disagrees has no business in the computer field...
