Perl and cryptography (was Re: [MacPerl] Speaking of Pi)

[john s jacobs anderson <jacobs@azstarnet.com>]

> Is this relevant to MacPerl? Well, yes, partly just in the sense of 
> helping us all learn more about [Mac]Perl's power and what we can do 
> with it. But also there are some very handy things to do with 
> properly marshalled irrational numbers, and pi is a nice place to 
> start. Of course, there are languages optimized for mathematical 
> operations, and Matthias' reminder of the chosen arithmetic precision 
> limit of most microprocessors must be considered. I doubt Perl would 
> ever be used for something like cryptography, but there might be some 
> other serious applications.

Not ObMacPerl, but ObPerl: 

In Neal Stephenson's recent (and highly recommended) _Cryptonomicon_,
a cryptographic Perl script plays a role in the plot. Source code *is*
provided. 8^)=

john.

-- 
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John S Jacobs Anderson                         jacobs@azstarnet.com
http://www.treefort.org/~jacobs/ <-- GeneHack:bioinfo*linux*opinion


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