Decryptoquip v3.0 can solve most cipher puzzles found in the newspaper very quickly. This is my third generation solver. A lot of time and effort has been spent on this program, both on design and implementation. That brings us to...
This is Shareware!
This program is being distributed across the internet in the hopes that people who find this program to be fun, interesting, and/or useful, will find it! I believe this program to be the best simple substitution cipher solver available in terms of speed. But frankly, I've given up hope on making my hourly earnings any more than a dollar an hour.
But you can still do your part! My recommended fee is enough money for pizza and a coke, which will help me develop more programs for all platforms. You can send checks to:
Edwin Olson
3 Ames St. #155
Cambridge, MA 02142
A Special Thanks to:
A thank you to David Bartley for helping me find a compilation problem with the 68k version and suggesting improvements which are now toutable features! David, consider this program to be gratis in appreciation of your help.
License
You may only use this program in the pursuit of recreation! I do not authorize anyone to use this program in any sort of competition. You may redistribute this program, provided you do not charge for it, and provided that you include this README. You also absolve the author of any responsibility for the behavior of this program, including any damage. You use this program at your own risk.
Using Decryptoquip
Using Decryptoquip 3.0 is very easy. The interface isn't pretty, but that's because I would rather spend time improving the algorithm than spiffifying the interface. (As an added bonus, I ended up with very portable source code!)
When asked for the encrypted puzzle, enter the encrypted puzzle.
When asked for the clues, enter the clues.
That's it.
If you have problems, make sure that the file "dictionary.txt" is in the same directory as the application. If that doesn't fix your problem, please contact me so that I can look into it!
Working hard puzzles
If you enter a "hard" puzzle (a hard puzzle being defined as one in which not all the words in the solution are in the dictionary), the algorithm may fail. You will be presented with an option to systematically omit words in the encoded text. You probably want to type "Yes"-- the algorithm will grunge on and very often find a solution. (Beware, this search can take a while!)
How fast is it?
The code is pretty fast. I own a PowerMac 7500/100, and it takes an average of about 10 seconds to solve a puzzle. A friend ran it on his Performa 450, and it took considerably longer: from one to two minutes. Depending on the puzzle, however, I've seen puzzles solved faster than you can blink, and I've seen puzzles which take a couple minutes on my 7500/100-- but these are extreme, infrequent cases. Loading the dictionary seems to take a lot of the time, so that will probably be my next area of work.
Benchmarks:
The following puzzles were run on two systems: a 68k Performa 475 (quite slow) and a Power Mac 7500/100. The PowerMac was about 10x as fast as the Performa 475. Note that when the systematic word elimination was used, the times increased substantially. All timings are in seconds.
EVEN THOUGH THE ASTRONOMER ATE A ROLL OF FILM, IT SEEMS NOTHING SERIOUS DEVELOPED.
Cryptoquip 3.0--Performa 475: 60. s
Cryptoquip 3.0--PowerMac 7500/100: 6. s
Cryptoquip 2.2--PowerMac 7500/100: 15. s
EVEN THOUGH THE ASTRONOMER ATE A ROLL OF FILM, IT SEEMS NOTHING SIRIUS DEVELOPED.
