Re: VMs: Giants of the Past

[Rene Zandbergen <r_zandbergen@xxxxxxxxx>]

--- Jim Gillogly <jim@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> CWLee wrote:
> > With all due respect to D'Imperio, Friedman,
> > Manly, Tiltman, and other cryptologists of
> > their era, I note that their work
> > was all done before the advent of today's
> > superfast computers - right?  

 [...] 

> It's certainly true that we have faster computers
> than were
> available last year, or last decade.  However, it's
> my firm
> opinion that the cryptographers who were looking at
> it 35
> years ago (including some of us on the list) were
> limited
> not by computing power but by ideas and algorithms. 
> I don't
> want to discourage you from applying big iron to
> your ideas,
> but *I* never felt over the last 35 years that I was
> limited
> in what I could try by lack of computing facilities.

To this, I would (humbly) add, that those experts
of past (and current) days were also much less likely
to be misled or distracted by 20th (and 21st) century 
concepts. 

OTOH our tools can still do a lot of good work.
 - count
 - compare
 - substitute
 - go back to square one
 - tabulate
 - sort
 - go back to any previous step

All at a moments notice. We 'just' have to remember
to plan and to think. What it means is that we
can test ideas on the entire MS text, whereas
35 years ago people had to do it by hand, on short
pieces.
I note, however, that *in most cases* people still 
favour looking at specific, short pieces of text,
so generally one could conclude that our tools are
not being exploited anywhere near their potential.

Cheers, Rene

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