English 494CI - Codes, Ciphers, Hackers & Crac

This course offers a practical introduction to and reviews the history of codes and ciphers, from medieval allegories to the Vernam Cipher. In order to break codes, it examines the structures of the English language, as well as the distributive characteristics of words and phonemes. Students will examine the relationship between a system and its component elements. Starting with the relationship between letters and cipher types, we will move to the relationship between users and networks, writers and literary markets, and to the larger cultural issues of hackers (and crackers) and The System. This course offers students the opportunity to reflect on and integrate their learning and experience from General Education courses and their major by asking them to integrate the content of the course with their academic knowledge and experiences. It satisfies the Integrative Experience requirement for BA-Engl students.

This class is open to Senior English majors only PreReq:English200w/CorE200&201