doitrockapella: (CONFIDENT ❖ why yes i speak jive)
Carmen Sandiego ([personal profile] doitrockapella) wrote in [personal profile] newberktown 2012-10-30 03:02 am (UTC)

audio; | cianwood city | october 21

Mirror writing was Da Vinci's "code" of choice. The words were written backwards, so they could only be read when reflected in a mirror.

[The more you know.]

Did he? Pigpen is what's called a "cypher". Codes traditionally involve the exchange of one word or concept for another — for example, you and I might decide to have a secret code in which we always refer to Albert as "duck". A cypher, on the other hand, is an alphabetical substitution, like Pigpen — each symbol represents one letter. And they both have their uses; the benefit of a cypher is that you can spell any word in the world, whether you have a pre-agreed "code word" for it or not. But the downside is that substitution cyphers are much easier to break.

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