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| -rw-r--r-- | Doc/pycrypt.rst | 10 |
1 files changed, 5 insertions, 5 deletions
diff --git a/Doc/pycrypt.rst b/Doc/pycrypt.rst index 57146cf..5017677 100644 --- a/Doc/pycrypt.rst +++ b/Doc/pycrypt.rst @@ -882,18 +882,18 @@ random number generator properly. In the sense we'll be using it, entropy measures the amount of randomness; the usual unit is in bits. So, a single random bit has an entropy of 1 bit; a random byte has an entropy of 8 bits. Now consider a one-byte field in a database containing a -person's sex, represented as a single character \samp{M} or \samp{F}. +person's sex, represented as a single character ``'M'`` or ``'F'``. What's the entropy of this field? Since there are only two possible values, it's not 8 bits, but one; if you were trying to guess the value, -you wouldn't have to bother trying \samp{Q} or \samp{@}. +you wouldn't have to bother trying ``'Q'`` or ``'@'``. Now imagine running that single byte field through a hash function that produces 128 bits of output. Is the entropy of the resulting hash value 128 bits? No, it's still just 1 bit. The entropy is a measure of how many possible states of the data exist. For English text, the entropy of a five-character string is not 40 bits; it's -somewhat less, because not all combinations would be seen. \samp{Guido} -is a possible string, as is \samp{In th}; \samp{zJwvb} is not. +somewhat less, because not all combinations would be seen. ``'Guido'`` +is a possible string, as is ``'In th'``; ``'zJwvb'`` is not. The relevance to random number generation? We want enough bits of entropy to avoid making an attack on our generator possible. An @@ -1055,7 +1055,7 @@ the number of words in ``string`` must be a multiple of 6. Extending the Toolkit -------------------------------------------------- -Preserving the a common interface for cryptographic routines is a good +Preserving a common interface for cryptographic routines is a good idea. This chapter explains how to write new modules for the Toolkit. The basic process is as follows: |