Codes and Ciphers

Codes and ciphers were and are used to encode and transmit information.  Secrets were and still are important since knowledge can be powerful.  Codes such as the Morse Code was used to send information to railroad operators as well as used for transmitting information over a distance by using short and long sounds in an encoded manner.  Here is the key for Morse Code:

A cipher is an algorithm used to encrypt data or information.  Ciphers are a little different from codes in that they need to be decrypted or rather someone has to understand how to unravel the coded information by knowing the key rather than simply translating the message per a table as in Morse Code.

A Caesar Cipher shifts the coded letters in a message.  Here is a pictorial of the shift of the cipher:

By Rita Jean Moran (www.thelibrarykids.com)

Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morse_code

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:International_Morse_Code.svg

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cipher

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classical_cipher

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caesar_cipher

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Caesar3.svg