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Braille

Braille is a tactile writing system used by people who are visually impaired. It can be read either on embossed paper or by using refreshable braille displays that connect to computers and smartphone devices. Braille can be written using a slate and stylus, a braille writer, an electronic braille notetaker or with the use of a computer connected to a braille embosser.

Braille is named after its creator, Louis Braille, a Frenchman who lost his sight as a result of a childhood accident. In 1824, at the age of fifteen, he developed the braille code based on the French alphabet as an improvement on night writing. He published his system, which subsequently included musical notation, in 1829. The second revision, published in 1837, was the first binary form of writing developed in the modern era.

Braille characters are formed using a combination of six raised dots arranged in a 3 × 2 matrix, called the braille cell. The number and arrangement of these dots distinguishes one character from another. Since the various braille alphabets originated as transcription codes for printed writing, the mappings (sets of character designations) vary from language to language, and even within one; in English braille there are three levels: uncontracted – a letter-by-letter transcription used for basic literacy; contracted – an addition of abbreviations and contractions used as a space-saving mechanism; and grade 3 – various non-standardized personal stenographies that are less commonly used.

In addition to braille text (letters, punctuation, contractions), it is also possible to create embossed illustrations and graphs, with the lines either solid or made of series of dots, arrows, and bullets that are larger than braille dots. A full braille cell includes six raised dots arranged in two columns, each column having three dots. The dot positions are identified by numbers from one to six. There are 64 possible combinations, including no dots at all for a word space. Dot configurations can be used to represent a letter, digit, punctuation mark, or even a word.

Early braille education is crucial to literacy, education and employment among the blind. Despite the evolution of new technologies, including screen reader software that reads information aloud, braille provides blind people with access to spelling, punctuation and other aspects of written language less accessible through audio alone.

While some have suggested that audio-based technologies will decrease the need for braille, technological advancements such as braille displays have continued to make braille more accessible and available. Braille users highlight that braille remains as essential as print is to the sighted.

History

Braille was based on a tactile code, now known as night writing, developed by Charles Barbier. (The name "night writing" was later given to it when it was considered as a means for soldiers to communicate silently at night and without a light source, but Barbier's writings do not use this term and suggest that it was originally designed as a simpler form of writing and for the visually impaired.) In Barbier's system, sets of 12 embossed dots were used to encode 36 different sounds. Braille identified three major defects of the code: first, the symbols represented phonetic sounds and not letters of the alphabet – thus the code was unable to render the orthography of the words. Second, the 12-dot symbols could not easily fit beneath the pad of the reading finger. This required the reading finger to move in order to perceive the whole symbol, which slowed the reading process. (This was because Barbier's system was based only on the number of dots in each of two 6-dot columns, not the pattern of the dots.) Third, the code did not include symbols for numerals or punctuation. Braille's solution was to use 6-dot cells and to assign a specific pattern to each letter of the alphabet. Braille also developed symbols for representing numerals and punctuation.

At first, braille was a one-to-one transliteration of the French alphabet, but soon various abbreviations (contractions) and even logograms were developed, creating a system much more like shorthand.

Today, there are braille codes for over 133 languages.

In English, some variations in the braille codes have traditionally existed among English-speaking countries. In 1991, work to standardize the braille codes used in the English-speaking world began. Unified English Braille (UEB) has been adopted in all seven member countries of the International Council on English Braille (ICEB) as well as Nigeria.

For blind readers, braille is an independent writing system, rather than a code of printed orthography.

Derivation
Braille is derived from the Latin alphabet, albeit indirectly. In Braille's original system, the dot patterns were assigned to letters according to their position within the alphabetic order of the French alphabet of the time, with accented letters and w sorted at the end.

Unlike print, which consists of mostly arbitrary symbols, the braille alphabet follows a logical sequence. The first ten letters of the alphabet, a–j, use the upper four dot positions: (black dots in the table below). These stand for the ten digits 1–9 and 0 in an alphabetic numeral system similar to Greek numerals (as well as derivations of it, including Hebrew numerals, Cyrillic numerals, Abjad numerals, also Hebrew gematria and Greek isopsephy).

Though the dots are assigned in no obvious order, the cells with the fewest dots are assigned to the first three letters (and lowest digits), abc = 123, and to the three vowels in this part of the alphabet, aei , whereas the even digits 4, 6, 8, 0 are right angles.

The next ten letters, k–t, are identical to a–j respectively, apart from the addition of a dot at position 3 (red dots in the bottom left corners of the cells in the table below): :

 * {| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"

 * + Derivation (colored dots) of the 26 braille letters of the basic Latin alphabet from the 10 numeric digits (black dots)
 * Braille A1.svg||Braille B2.svg||Braille C3.svg||Braille D4.svg||Braille E5.svg||Braille F6.svg||Braille G7.svg||Braille H8.svg||Braille I9.svg||Braille J0.svg
 * a/1||b/2||c/3||d/4||e/5||f/6||g/7||h/8||i/9||j/0
 * Braille K colored.svg||Braille L colored.svg||Braille M colored.svg||Braille N colored.svg||Braille O colored.svg||Braille P colored.svg||Braille Q colored.svg||Braille R colored.svg||Braille S colored.svg||Braille T colored.svg
 * k||l||m||n||o||p||q||r||s||t
 * Braille U colored.svg||Braille V colored.svg||Braille X colored.svg||Braille Y colored.svg||Braille Z colored.svg|| colspan="4" rowspan="2" | ||Braille W colored.svg
 * u||v||x||y||z||w
 * }
 * k||l||m||n||o||p||q||r||s||t
 * Braille U colored.svg||Braille V colored.svg||Braille X colored.svg||Braille Y colored.svg||Braille Z colored.svg|| colspan="4" rowspan="2" | ||Braille W colored.svg
 * u||v||x||y||z||w
 * }
 * u||v||x||y||z||w
 * }

The next ten letters (the next "decade") are the same again, but with dots also at both position 3 and position 6 (green dots in the bottom rows of the cells in the table above). Here w was initially left out as not being a part of the official French alphabet at the time of Braille's life; the French braille order is u v x y z ç é à è ù.

The next ten letters, ending in w, are the same again, except that for this series position 6 (purple dot in the bottom right corner of the cell in the table above) is used without a dot at position 3. In French braille these are the letters â ê î ô û ë ï ü œ w. W had been tacked onto the end of 39 letters of the French alphabet to accommodate English.

The a–j series shifted down by one dot space is used for punctuation. Letters a and c, which only use dots in the top row, were shifted two places for the apostrophe and hyphen:. (These are also the decade diacritics, at left in the table below, of the second and third decade.)

In addition, there are ten patterns that are based on the first two letters with their dots shifted to the right; these were assigned to non-French letters (ì ä ò ), or serve non-letter functions:  (superscript; in English the accent mark),  (currency prefix),  (capital, in English the decimal point),  (number sign),  (emphasis mark),  (symbol prefix).

 * {| class="wikitable noresize" styel="text-align:center"

!colspan=2| decade || ||colspan=10| numeric sequence || ||colspan=2| shift right !1st !2nd !3rd !4th !5th ! shift down
 * + The 64 modern braille cells
 * Braille NULL.svg ||
 * Braille A1.svg
 * Braille B2.svg
 * Braille C3.svg
 * Braille D4.svg
 * Braille E5.svg
 * Braille F6.svg
 * Braille G7.svg
 * Braille H8.svg
 * Braille I9.svg
 * Braille J0.svg ||
 * Braille Accent.svg
 * Braille Currency.svg
 * Braille Apostrophe colored.svg ||
 * Braille K colored.svg
 * Braille L colored.svg
 * Braille M colored.svg
 * Braille N colored.svg
 * Braille O colored.svg
 * Braille P colored.svg
 * Braille Q colored.svg
 * Braille R colored.svg
 * Braille S colored.svg
 * Braille T colored.svg ||
 * Braille ST colored.svg
 * Braille Ä colored.svg
 * Braille Hyphen colored.svg ||
 * Braille U colored.svg
 * Braille V colored.svg
 * Braille X colored.svg
 * Braille Y colored.svg
 * Braille Z colored.svg
 * Braille Ç colored.svg
 * Braille É colored.svg
 * Braille À colored.svg
 * Braille È colored.svg
 * Braille Ù colored.svg ||
 * Braille Ò colored.svg
 * Braille Number colored.svg
 * Braille Capital colored.svg ||
 * Braille Â colored.svg
 * Braille Ê colored.svg
 * Braille Î colored.svg
 * Braille Ô colored.svg
 * Braille Û colored.svg
 * Braille Ë colored.svg
 * Braille Ï colored.svg
 * Braille Ü colored.svg
 * Braille Ö colored.svg
 * Braille W colored.svg ||
 * Braille Decimal colored.svg
 * Braille Cursive colored.svg
 * Braille Comma colored.svg
 * Braille Semicolon colored.svg
 * Braille Colon colored.svg
 * Braille Period colored.svg
 * Braille QuestionMark colored.svg
 * Braille ExclamationPoint colored.svg
 * Braille Bracket colored.svg
 * Braille QuoteOpen colored.svg
 * Braille Asterisk colored.svg
 * Braille QuoteClose colored.svg ||
 * Braille ContractionPrefix colored.svg
 * Braille Correction colored.svg
 * }
 * }

The first four decades are similar in respect that in those decades the decade dots are applied to the numeric sequence as a logical "inclusive OR" operation whereas the fifth decade applies a "shift down" operation to the numeric sequence.

Originally there had been nine decades. The fifth through ninth used dashes as well as dots, but proved to be impractical and were soon abandoned. These could be replaced with what we now know as the number sign, though that only caught on for the digits (old 5th decade → modern 1st decade). The dash occupying the top row of the original sixth decade was simply dropped, producing the modern fifth decade. (See 1829 braille.)

Assignment
Historically, there have been three principles in assigning the values of a linear script (print) to Braille: Using Louis Braille's original French letter values; reassigning the braille letters according to the sort order of the print alphabet being transcribed; and reassigning the letters to improve the efficiency of writing in braille.

Under international consensus, most braille alphabets follow the French sorting order for the 26 letters of the basic Latin alphabet, and there have been attempts at unifying the letters beyond these 26 (see international braille), though differences remain, for example, in German Braille. This unification avoids the chaos of each nation reordering the braille code to match the sorting order of its print alphabet, as happened in Algerian Braille, where braille codes were numerically reassigned to match the order of the Arabic alphabet and bear little relation to the values used in other countries (compare modern Arabic Braille, which uses the French sorting order), and as happened in an early American version of English Braille, where the letters w, x, y, z were reassigned to match English alphabetical order. A convention sometimes seen for letters beyond the basic 26 is to exploit the physical symmetry of braille patterns iconically, for example, by assigning a reversed n to ñ or an inverted s to sh. (See Hungarian Braille and Bharati Braille, which do this to some extent.)

A third principle was to assign braille codes according to frequency, with the simplest patterns (quickest ones to write with a stylus) assigned to the most frequent letters of the alphabet. Such frequency-based alphabets were used in Germany and the United States in the 19th century (see American Braille), but with the invention of the braille typewriter their advantage disappeared, and none are attested in modern use – they had the disadvantage that the resulting small number of dots in a text interfered with following the alignment of the letters, and consequently made texts more difficult to read than Braille's more arbitrary letter assignment. Finally, there are braille scripts that do not order the codes numerically at all, such as Japanese Braille and Korean Braille, which are based on more abstract principles of syllable composition.

Texts are sometimes written in a script of eight dots per cell rather than six, enabling them to encode a greater number of symbols. (See Gardner–Salinas braille codes.) Luxembourgish Braille has adopted eight-dot cells for general use; for example, it adds a dot below each letter to derive its capital variant.

Form
Braille was the first writing system with binary encoding. The system as devised by Braille consists of two parts:
 * 1) Character encoding that mapped characters of the French alphabet to tuples of six bits (the dots).
 * 2) The physical representation of those six-bit characters with raised dots in a braille cell.

Within an individual cell, the dot positions are arranged in two columns of three positions. A raised dot can appear in any of the six positions, producing 64 (26) possible patterns, including one in which there are no raised dots. For reference purposes, a pattern is commonly described by listing the positions where dots are raised, the positions being universally numbered, from top to bottom, as 1 to 3 on the left and 4 to 6 on the right. For example, dot pattern 1-3-4 describes a cell with three dots raised, at the top and bottom in the left column and at the top of the right column: that is, the letter m. The lines of horizontal braille text are separated by a space, much like visible printed text, so that the dots of one line can be differentiated from the braille text above and below. Different assignments of braille codes (or code pages) are used to map the character sets of different printed scripts to the six-bit cells. Braille assignments have also been created for mathematical and musical notation. However, because the six-dot braille cell allows only 64 (26) patterns, including space, the characters of a braille script commonly have multiple values, depending on their context. That is, character mapping between print and braille is not one-to-one. For example, the character corresponds in print to both the letter d and the digit 4.

In addition to simple encoding, many braille alphabets use contractions to reduce the size of braille texts and to increase reading speed. (See Contracted braille.)

Writing braille
Braille may be produced by hand using a slate and stylus in which each dot is created from the back of the page, writing in mirror image, or it may be produced on a braille typewriter or Perkins Brailler, or an electronic Brailler or braille notetaker. Braille users with access to smartphones may also activate the on-screen braille input keyboard, to type braille symbols on to their device by placing their fingers on to the screen according to the dot configuration of the symbols they wish to form. These symbols are automatically translated into print on the screen. The different tools that exist for writing braille allow the braille user to select the method that is best for a given task. For example, the slate and stylus is a portable writing tool, much like the pen and paper for the sighted. Errors can be erased using a braille eraser or can be overwritten with all six dots. Interpoint refers to braille printing that is offset, so that the paper can be embossed on both sides, with the dots on one side appearing between the divots that form the dots on the other. Using a computer or other electronic device, Braille may be produced with a braille embosser (printer) or a refreshable braille display (screen).

Eight-dot braille
Braille has been extended to an 8-dot code, particularly for use with braille embossers and refreshable braille displays. In 8-dot braille the additional dots are added at the bottom of the cell, giving a matrix 4 dots high by 2 dots wide. The additional dots are given the numbers 7 (for the lower-left dot) and 8 (for the lower-right dot). Eight-dot braille has the advantages that the case of an individual letter is directly coded in the cell containing the letter and that all the printable ASCII characters can be represented in a single cell. All 256 (28) possible combinations of 8 dots are encoded by the Unicode standard. Braille with six dots is frequently stored as Braille ASCII.

Letters
The first 25 braille letters, up through the first half of the 3rd decade, transcribe a–z (skipping w). In English Braille, the rest of that decade is rounded out with the ligatures and, for, of, the, and with. Omitting dot 3 from these forms the 4th decade, the ligatures ch, gh, sh, th, wh, ed, er, ou, ow and the letter w.

(See English Braille.)

Formatting
Various formatting marks affect the values of the letters that follow them. They have no direct equivalent in print. The most important in English Braille are:

That is, is read as capital 'A', and  as the digit '1'.

Punctuation
Basic punctuation marks in English Braille include:

is both the question mark and the opening quotation mark. Its reading depends on whether it occurs before a word or after.

is used for both opening and closing parentheses. Its placement relative to spaces and other characters determines its interpretation.

Punctuation varies from language to language. For example, French Braille uses for its question mark and swaps the quotation marks and parentheses (to  and ); it uses the period  for the decimal point, as in print, and the decimal point  to mark capitalization.

Contractions
Braille contractions are words and affixes that are shortened so that they take up fewer cells. In English Braille, for example, the word afternoon is written with just three letters, $\langleafn\rangle$, much like stenoscript. There are also several abbreviation marks that create what are effectively logograms. The most common of these is dot 5, which combines with the first letter of words. With the letter m, the resulting word is  mother. There are also ligatures ("contracted" letters), which are single letters in braille but correspond to more than one letter in print. The letter and, for example, is used to write words with the sequence a-n-d in them, such as  grand.

Page dimensions
Most braille embossers support between 34 and 40 cells per line, and 25 lines per page.

A manually operated Perkins braille typewriter supports a maximum of 42 cells per line (its margins are adjustable), and typical paper allows 25 lines per page.

A large interlining Stainsby has 36 cells per line and 18 lines per page.

An A4-sized Marburg braille frame, which allows interpoint braille (dots on both sides of the page, offset so they do not interfere with each other), has 30 cells per line and 27 lines per page.

Braille writing machine
A Braille writing machine is a typewriter with six keys that allows the user to write braille on a regular hard copy page.

The first Braille typewriter to gain general acceptance was invented by Frank Haven Hall (Superintendent of the Illinois School for the Blind), and was presented to the public in 1892.

The Stainsby Brailler, developed by Henry Stainsby in 1903, is a mechanical writer with a sliding carriage that moves over an aluminium plate as it embosses Braille characters. An improved version was introduced around 1933.

In 1951 David Abraham, a woodworking teacher at the Perkins School for the Blind, produced a more advanced Braille typewriter, the Perkins Brailler.

Braille printers or embossers were produced in the 1950s. In 1960 Robert Mann, a teacher in MIT, wrote DOTSYS, a software that allowed automatic braille translation, and another group created an embossing device called "M.I.T. Braillemboss". The Mitre Corporation team of Robert Gildea, Jonathan Millen, Reid Gerhart and Joseph Sullivan (now president of Duxbury Systems) developed DOTSYS III, the first braille translator written in a portable programming language. DOTSYS III was developed for the Atlanta Public Schools as a public domain program.

In 1991 Ernest Bate developed the Mountbatten Brailler, an electronic machine used to type braille on braille paper, giving it a number of additional features such as word processing, audio feedback and embossing. This version was improved in 2008 with a quiet writer that had an erase key.

In 2011 David S. Morgan produced the first SMART Brailler machine, with added text to speech function and allowed digital capture of data entered.

Braille reading
Braille is traditionally read in hardcopy form, such as with paper books written in braille, documents produced in paper braille (such as restaurant menus), and braille labels or public signage. It can also be read on a refreshable braille display either as a stand-alone electronic device or connected to a computer or smartphone. Refreshable braille displays convert what is visually shown on a computer or smartphone screen into braille through a series of pins that rise and fall to form braille symbols. Currently more than 1% of all printed books have been translated into hardcopy braille.

The fastest braille readers apply a light touch and read braille with two hands, although reading braille with one hand is also possible. Although the finger can read only one braille character at a time, the brain chunks braille at a higher level, processing words a digraph, root or suffix at a time. The processing largely takes place in the visual cortex.

Literacy
Children who are blind miss out on fundamental parts of early and advanced education if not provided with the necessary tools, such as access to educational materials in braille. Children who are blind or visually impaired can begin learning foundational braille skills from a very young age to become fluent braille readers as they get older. Sighted children are naturally exposed to written language on signs, on TV and in the books they see. Blind children require the same early exposure to literacy, through access to braille rich environments and opportunities to explore the world around them. Print-braille books, for example, present text in both print and braille and can be read by sighted parents to blind children (and vice versa), allowing blind children to develop an early love for reading even before formal reading instruction begins.

Adults who experience sight loss later in life or who did not have the opportunity to learn it when they were younger can also learn braille. In most cases, adults who learn braille were already literate in print before vision loss and so instruction focuses more on developing the tactile and motor skills needed to read braille.

While different countries publish statistics on how many readers in a given organization request braille, these numbers only provide a partial picture of braille literacy statistics. For example, this data does not survey the entire population of braille readers or always include readers who are no longer in the school system (adults) or readers who request electronic braille materials. Therefore, there are currently no reliable statistics on braille literacy rates, as described in a publication in the Journal of Visual Impairment and Blindness. Regardless of the precise percentage of braille readers, there is consensus that braille should be provided to all those who benefit from it.

Numerous factors influence access to braille literacy, including school budget constraints, technology advancements such as screen-reader software, access to qualified instruction, and different philosophical views over how blind children should be educated.

In the USA, a key turning point for braille literacy was the passage of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, an act of Congress that moved thousands of children from specialized schools for the blind into mainstream public schools. Because only a small percentage of public schools could afford to train and hire braille-qualified teachers, braille literacy has declined since the law took effect. Braille literacy rates have improved slightly since the bill was passed, in part because of pressure from consumers and advocacy groups that has led 27 states to pass legislation mandating that children who are legally blind be given the opportunity to learn braille.

In 1998 there were 57,425 legally blind students registered in the United States, but only 10% (5,461) of them used braille as their primary reading medium.

Early Braille education is crucial to literacy for a blind or low-vision child. A study conducted in the state of Washington found that people who learned braille at an early age did just as well as, if not better than, their sighted peers in several areas, including vocabulary and comprehension. In the preliminary adult study, while evaluating the correlation between adult literacy skills and employment, it was found that 44% of the participants who had learned to read in braille were unemployed, compared to the 77% unemployment rate of those who had learned to read using print. Currently, among the estimated 85,000 blind adults in the United States, 90% of those who are braille-literate are employed. Among adults who do not know braille, only 33% are employed. Statistically, history has proven that braille reading proficiency provides an essential skill set that allows blind or low-vision children to compete with their sighted peers in a school environment and later in life as they enter the workforce.

Regardless of the specific percentage of braille readers, proponents point out the importance of increasing access to braille for all those who can benefit from it.

Braille transcription
Although it is possible to transcribe print by simply substituting the equivalent braille character for its printed equivalent, in English such a character-by-character transcription (known as uncontracted braille) is typically used by beginners or those who only engage in short reading tasks (such as reading household labels).

Braille characters are much larger than their printed equivalents, and the standard 11 by page has room for only 25 lines of 43 characters. To reduce space and increase reading speed, most braille alphabets and orthographies use ligatures, abbreviations, and contractions. Virtually all English braille books in hardcopy (paper) format are transcribed in contracted braille: The Library of Congress's Instruction Manual for Braille Transcribing runs to over 300 pages, and braille transcribers must pass certification tests.

Uncontracted braille was previously known as grade 1 braille, and contracted braille was previously known as grade 2 braille. Uncontracted braille is a direct transliteration of print words (one-to-one correspondence); hence, the word "about" would contain all the same letters in uncontracted braille as it does in inkprint. Contracted braille includes short forms to save space; hence, for example, the letters "ab" when standing alone represent the word "about" in English contracted braille. In English, some braille users only learn uncontracted braille, particularly if braille is being used for shorter reading tasks such as reading household labels. However, those who plan to use braille for educational and employment purposes and longer reading texts often go on to contracted braille.

The system of contractions in English Braille begins with a set of 23 words contracted to single characters. Thus the word but is contracted to the single letter b, can to c, do to d, and so on. Even this simple rule creates issues requiring special cases; for example, d is, specifically, an abbreviation of the verb do; the noun do representing the note of the musical scale is a different word and must be spelled out.

Portions of words may be contracted, and many rules govern this process. For example, the character with dots 2-3-5 (the letter "f" lowered in the Braille cell) stands for "ff" when used in the middle of a word. At the beginning of a word, this same character stands for the word "to"; the character is written in braille with no space following it. (This contraction was removed in the Unified English Braille Code.) At the end of a word, the same character represents an exclamation point.

Some contractions are more similar than their print equivalents. For example, the contraction $\langlelr\rangle$, meaning "letter", differs from $\langlell\rangle$, meaning "little", only by one dot in the second letter: little,  letter. This causes greater confusion between the braille spellings of these words and can hinder the learning process of contracted braille.

The contraction rules take into account the linguistic structure of the word; thus, contractions are generally not to be used when their use would alter the usual braille form of a base word to which a prefix or suffix has been added. Some portions of the transcription rules are not fully codified and rely on the judgment of the transcriber. Thus, when the contraction rules permit the same word in more than one way, preference is given to "the contraction that more nearly approximates correct pronunciation".

"Grade 3 braille" is a variety of non-standardized systems that include many additional shorthand-like contractions. They are not used for publication, but by individuals for their personal convenience.

Braille translation software
When people produce braille, this is called braille transcription. When computer software produces braille, this is called a braille translator. Braille translation software exists to handle almost all of the common languages of the world, and many technical areas, such as mathematics (mathematical notation), for example WIMATS, music (musical notation), and tactile graphics.

Braille reading techniques
Since Braille is one of the few writing systems where tactile perception is used, as opposed to visual perception, a braille reader must develop new skills. One skill important for Braille readers is the ability to create smooth and even pressures when running one's fingers along the words. There are many different styles and techniques used for the understanding and development of braille, even though a study by B. F. Holland suggests that there is no specific technique that is superior to any other.

Another study by Lowenfield & Abel shows that braille can be read "the fastest and best... by students who read using the index fingers of both hands". Another important reading skill emphasized in this study is to finish reading the end of a line with the right hand and to find the beginning of the next line with the left hand simultaneously.

International uniformity

When Braille was first adapted to languages other than French, many schemes were adopted, including mapping the native alphabet to the alphabetical order of French – e.g. in English W, which was not in the French alphabet at the time, is mapped to braille X, X to Y, Y to Z, and Z to the first French-accented letter – or completely rearranging the alphabet such that common letters are represented by the simplest braille patterns. Consequently, mutual intelligibility was greatly hindered by this state of affairs. In 1878, the International Congress on Work for the Blind, held in Paris, proposed an international braille standard, where braille codes for different languages and scripts would be based, not on the order of a particular alphabet, but on phonetic correspondence and transliteration to Latin.

This unified braille has been applied to the languages of India and Africa, Arabic, Vietnamese, Hebrew, Russian, and Armenian, as well as nearly all Latin-script languages. In Greek, for example, γ (g) is written as Latin g, despite the fact that it has the alphabetic position of c; Hebrew ב (b), the second letter of the alphabet and cognate with the Latin letter b, is sometimes pronounced /b/ and sometimes /v/, and is written b or v accordingly; Russian ц (ts) is written as c, which is the usual letter for /ts/ in those Slavic languages that use the Latin alphabet; and Arabic ف (f) is written as f, despite being historically p and occurring in that part of the Arabic alphabet (between historic o and q).

Other braille conventions
Other systems for assigning values to braille patterns are also followed beside the simple mapping of the alphabetical order onto the original French order. Some braille alphabets start with unified braille, and then diverge significantly based on the phonology of the target languages, while others diverge even further.

In the various Chinese systems, traditional braille values are used for initial consonants and the simple vowels. In both Mandarin and Cantonese Braille, however, characters have different readings depending on whether they are placed in syllable-initial (onset) or syllable-final (rime) position. For instance, the cell for Latin k,, represents Cantonese k (g in Yale and other modern romanizations) when initial, but aak when final, while Latin j, , represents Cantonese initial j but final oei.

Novel systems of braille mapping include Korean, which adopts separate syllable-initial and syllable-final forms for its consonants, explicitly grouping braille cells into syllabic groups in the same way as hangul. Japanese, meanwhile, combines independent vowel dot patterns and modifier consonant dot patterns into a single braille cell – an abugida representation of each Japanese mora.

Uses

Braille is read by people who are blind, deafblind or who have low vision, and by both those born with a visual impairment and those who experience sight loss later in life. Braille may also be used by print impaired people, who although may be fully sighted, due to a physical disability are unable to read print. Even individuals with low vision will find that they benefit from braille, depending on level of vision or context (for example, when lighting or colour contrast is poor). Braille is used for both short and long reading tasks. Examples of short reading tasks include braille labels for identifying household items (or cards in a wallet), reading elevator buttons, accessing phone numbers, recipes, grocery lists and other personal notes. Examples of longer reading tasks include using braille to access educational materials, novels and magazines. People with access to a refreshable braille display can also use braille for reading email and ebooks, browsing the internet and accessing other electronic documents. It is also possible to adapt or purchase playing cards and board games in braille.

In India there are instances where the parliament acts have been published in braille, such as The Right to Information Act. Sylheti Braille is used in Northeast India.

In Canada, passenger safety information in braille and tactile seat row markers are required aboard planes, trains, large ferries, and interprovincial busses pursuant to the Canadian Transportation Agency's regulations.

In the United States, the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 requires various building signage to be in braille.

In the United Kingdom, it is required that medicines have the name of the medicine in Braille on the labeling.

Currency
The current series of Canadian banknotes has a tactile feature consisting of raised dots that indicate the denomination, allowing bills to be easily identified by blind or low vision people. It does not use standard braille numbers to identify the value. Instead, the number of full braille cells, which can be simply counted by both braille readers and non-braille readers alike, is an indicator of the value of the bill.

Mexican bank notes, Australian bank notes, Indian rupee notes, Israeli new shekel notes and Russian ruble notes also have special raised symbols to make them identifiable by persons who are blind or have low vision.

Euro coins were designed in cooperation with organisations representing blind people, and as a result they incorporate many features allowing them to be distinguished by touch alone. In addition, their visual appearance is designed to make them easy to tell apart for persons who cannot read the inscriptions on the coins. "A good design for the blind and partially sighted is a good design for everybody" was the principle behind the cooperation of the European Central Bank and the European Blind Union during the design phase of the first series Euro banknotes in the 1990s. As a result, the design of the first euro banknotes included several characteristics which aid both the blind and partially sighted to confidently use the notes.

Australia introduced the tactile feature onto their five-dollar banknote in 2016

In the United Kingdom, the front of the £10 polymer note (the side with raised print), has two clusters of raised dots in the top left hand corner, and the £20 note has three. This tactile feature helps blind and partially sighted people identify the value of the note.

In 2003 the US Mint introduced the commemorative Alabama State Quarter, which recognized State Daughter Helen Keller on the Obverse, including the name Helen Keller in both English script and Braille inscription. This appears to be the first known use of Braille on US Coin Currency, though not standard on all coins of this type.

Unicode
The Braille set was added to the Unicode Standard in version 3.0 (1999).

Most braille embossers and refreshable braille displays do not use the Unicode code points, but instead reuse the 8-bit code points that are assigned to standard ASCII for braille ASCII. (Thus, for simple material, the same bitstream may be interpreted equally as visual letter forms for sighted readers or their exact semantic equivalent in tactile patterns for blind readers. However some codes have quite different tactile versus visual interpretations and most are not even defined in Braille ASCII.)

Some embossers have proprietary control codes for 8-dot braille or for full graphics mode, where dots may be placed anywhere on the page without leaving any space between braille cells so that continuous lines can be drawn in diagrams, but these are rarely used and are not standard.

The Unicode standard encodes 6-dot and 8-dot braille glyphs according to their binary appearance, rather than following their assigned numeric order. Dot 1 corresponds to the least significant bit of the low byte of the Unicode scalar value, and dot 8 to the high bit of that byte.

The Unicode block for braille is U+2800 ... U+28FF. The mapping of patterns to characters etc. is language dependent: even for English for example, see American Braille and English Braille.

Observation
Every year on 4 January, World Braille Day is observed internationally to commemorate the birth of Louis Braille and to recognize his efforts. Although the event is not considered a public holiday, it has been recognized by the United Nations as an official day of celebration since 2019.

Braille devices
There is a variety of contemporary electronic devices that serve the needs of blind people that operate in Braille, such as refreshable braille displays and Braille e-books that use different technologies for transmitting graphic information of different types (pictures, maps, graphs, texts, etc.).

title: Braille


text:
Bastille Day

Bastille Day is the common name given in English-speaking countries to the national day of France, which is celebrated on 14 July each year. In French, it is called the Fête nationale française (French National Celebration); legally it is known as le 14 juillet (the 14th of July).

French National Day is the anniversary of the Storming of the Bastille on 14 July 1789, a major event of the French Revolution, as well as the Fête de la Fédération that celebrated the unity of the French people on 14 July 1790. Celebrations are held throughout France. One that has been reported as "the oldest and largest military parade in Europe" is held on 14 July on the Champs-Élysées in Paris in front of the President of France, along with other French officials and foreign guests.

History
In 1789, tensions rose in France between reformist and conservative factions as the country struggled to resolve an economic crisis. In May, the Estates General legislative assembly was revived, but members of the Third Estate broke ranks, declaring themselves to be the National Assembly of the country, and on 20 June, vowed to write a constitution for the kingdom.

On 11 July, Jacques Necker, the finance minister of Louis XVI, who was sympathetic to the Third Estate, was dismissed by the King, provoking an angry reaction among Parisians. Crowds formed, fearful of an attack by the royal army or by foreign regiments of mercenaries in the King's service and seeking to arm themselves. Early on 14 July, a crowd besieged the Hôtel des Invalides for firearms, muskets, and cannons stored in its cellars. That same day, another crowd stormed the Bastille, a fortress-prison in Paris that had historically held people jailed on the basis of lettres de cachet (literally "signet letters"), arbitrary royal indictments that could not be appealed and did not indicate the reason for the imprisonment, and was believed to hold a cache of ammunition and gunpowder. As it happened, at the time of the attack, the Bastille held only seven inmates, none of great political significance.

The crowd was eventually reinforced by the mutinous Régiment des Gardes Françaises ("Regiment of French Guards"), whose usual role was to protect public buildings. They proved a fair match for the fort's defenders, and Governor de Launay, the commander of the Bastille, capitulated and opened the gates to avoid a mutual massacre. According to the official documents, about 200 attackers and just one defender died before the capitulation. However, possibly because of a misunderstanding, fighting resumed. In this second round of fighting, de Launay and seven other defenders were killed, as was Jacques de Flesselles, the prévôt des marchands ("provost of the merchants"), the elected head of the city's guilds, who under the French monarchy had the responsibilities of a present-day mayor.

Shortly after the storming of the Bastille, late in the evening of 4 August, after a very stormy session of the Assemblée constituante, feudalism was abolished. On 26 August, the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (Déclaration des Droits de l'Homme et du Citoyen) was proclaimed.

Fête de la Fédération
As early as 1789, the year of the storming of the Bastille, preliminary designs for a national festival were underway. These designs were intended to strengthen the country's national identity through the celebration of the events of 14 July 1789. One of the first designs was proposed by Clément Gonchon, a French textile worker, who presented his design for a festival celebrating the anniversary of the storming of the Bastille to the French city administration and the public on 9 December 1789. There were other proposals and unofficial celebrations of 14 July 1789, but the official festival sponsored by the National Assembly was called the Fête de la Fédération.

The Fête de la Fédération on 14 July 1790 was a celebration of the unity of the French nation during the French Revolution. The aim of this celebration, one year after the Storming of the Bastille, was to symbolize peace. The event took place on the Champ de Mars, which was located far outside of Paris at the time. The work needed to transform the Champ de Mars into a suitable location for the celebration was not on schedule to be completed in time. On the day recalled as the Journée des brouettes ("The Day of the Wheelbarrow"), thousands of Parisian citizens gathered together to finish the construction needed for the celebration.

The day of the festival, the National Guard assembled and proceeded along the boulevard du Temple in the pouring rain, and were met by an estimated 260,000 Parisian citizens at the Champ de Mars. A mass was celebrated by Talleyrand, bishop of Autun. The popular General Lafayette, as captain of the National Guard of Paris and a confidant of the king, took his oath to the constitution, followed by King Louis XVI. After the end of the official celebration, the day ended in a huge four-day popular feast, and people celebrated with fireworks, as well as fine wine and running nude through the streets in order to display their freedom.

Origin of the current celebration
On 30 June 1878, a feast was officially arranged in Paris to honour the French Republic (the event was commemorated in a painting by Claude Monet). On 14 July 1879, there was another feast, with a semi-official aspect. The day's events included a reception in the Chamber of Deputies, organised and presided over by Léon Gambetta (a military reviewer at Longchamp), and a Republican Feast in the Pré Catelan. All throughout France, Le Figaro wrote, "people feasted much to honour the storming of the Bastille".

In 1880, the government of the Third Republic wanted to revive the 14 July festival. The campaign for the reinstatement of the festival was sponsored by the notable politician Léon Gambetta and scholar Henri Baudrillant. On 21 May 1880, Benjamin Raspail proposed a law, signed by sixty-four members of government, to have "the Republic adopt 14 July as the day of an annual national festival". There were many disputes over which date to be remembered as the national holiday, including 4 August (the commemoration of the end of the feudal system), 5 May (when the Estates-General first assembled), 27 July (the fall of Robespierre), and 21 January (the date of Louis XVI's execution). The government decided that the date of the holiday would be 14 July, but that was still somewhat problematic. The events of 14 July 1789 were illegal under the previous government, which contradicted the Third Republic's need to establish legal legitimacy. French politicians also did not want the sole foundation of their national holiday to be rooted in a day of bloodshed and class-hatred as the day of storming the Bastille was. Instead, they based the establishment of the holiday as both the celebration of the Fête de la Fédération, a festival celebrating the anniversary of the Republic of France on 14 July 1789, and the storming of the Bastille. The Assembly voted in favor of the proposal on 21 May, and 8 June. The law was approved on 27 and 29 June. The celebration was made official on 6 July 1880.

In the debate leading up to the adoption of the holiday, Senator Henri Martin, who wrote the National Day law, addressed the chamber on 29 June 1880:

"Do not forget that behind this 14 July, where victory of the new era over the Ancien Régime was bought by fighting, do not forget that after the day of 14 July 1789, there was the day of 14 July 1790 (...) This [latter] day cannot be blamed for having shed a drop of blood, for having divided the country. It was the consecration of the unity of France (...) If some of you might have scruples against the first 14 July, they certainly hold none against the second. Whatever difference which might part us, something hovers over them, it is the great images of national unity, which we all desire, for which we would all stand, willing to die if necessary."

Bastille Day military parade
The Bastille Day military parade is the French military parade that has been held in the morning, every year in Paris, since 1880. While previously held elsewhere within or near the capital city, since 1918 it has been held on the Champs-Élysées, with the participation of the Allies as represented in the Versailles Peace Conference, and with the exception of the period of German occupation from 1940 to 1944 (when the ceremony took place in London under the command of General Charles de Gaulle); and 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic forced its cancellation. The parade passes down the Champs-Élysées from the Arc de Triomphe to the Place de la Concorde, where the President of the French Republic, his government and foreign ambassadors to France stand. This is a popular event in France, broadcast on French TV, and is the oldest and largest regular military parade in Europe.

Smaller military parades are held in French garrison towns, including Toulon and Belfort, with local troops.

Belgium
Liège celebrates Bastille Day each year since the end of the First World War, as Liège was decorated by the Légion d'Honneur for its unexpected resistance during the Battle of Liège. The city also hosts a fireworks show outside of Congress Hall. Specifically in Liège, celebrations of Bastille Day have been known to be bigger than the celebrations of the Belgian National holiday. Around 35,000 people gather to celebrate Bastille Day. There is a traditional festival dance of the French consul that draws large crowds, and many unofficial events over the city celebrate the relationship between France and the city of Liège.

Canada
Vancouver, British Columbia holds a celebration featuring exhibits, food and entertainment. The Toronto Bastille Day festival is also celebrated in Toronto, Ontario. The festival is organized by the French-Canadian community in Toronto and sponsored by the Consulate General of France. The celebration includes music, performances, sport competitions, and a French Market. At the end of the festival, there is also a traditional French bal populaire.

Czech Republic
Since 2008, Prague has hosted a French market "Le marché du 14 juillet" ("Fourteenth of July Market") offering traditional French food and wine as well as music. The market takes place on Kampa Island, it is usually between 11 and 14 July. It acts as an event that marks the relinquish of the EU presidency from France to the Czech Republic. Traditional selections of French produce, including cheese, wine, meat, bread and pastries, are provided by the market. Throughout the event, live music is played in the evenings, with lanterns lighting up the square at night.

Denmark
The amusement park Tivoli celebrates Bastille Day.

Hungary
Budapest's two-day celebration is sponsored by the Institut de France. The festival is hosted along the Danube River, with streets filled with music and dancing. There are also local markets dedicated to French foods and wine, mixed with some traditional Hungarian specialties. At the end of the celebration, a fireworks show is held on the river banks.

India
Bastille Day is celebrated with great festivity in Pondicherry, a former French colony.

Ireland
The Embassy of France in Ireland organizes several events around Dublin, Cork and Limerick for Bastille Day; including evenings of French music and tasting of French food. Many members of the French community in Ireland take part in the festivities. Events in Dublin include live entertainment, speciality menus on French cuisine, and screenings of popular French films.

New Zealand
The Auckland suburb of Remuera hosts an annual French-themed Bastille Day street festival. Visitors enjoy mimes, dancers, music, as well as French foods and drinks. The budding relationship between the two countries, with the establishment of a Maori garden in France and exchange of their analyses of cave art, resulted in the creation of an official reception at the Residence of France. There is also an event in Wellington for the French community held at the Residence of France.

South Africa
Franschhoek's weekend festival has been celebrated since 1993. (Franschhoek, or 'French Corner,' is situated in the Western Cape.) As South Africa's gourmet capital, French food, wine and other entertainment is provided throughout the festival. The French Consulate in South Africa also celebrates their national holiday with a party for the French community. Activities also include dressing up in different items of French clothing.

French Polynesia
Following colonial rule, France annexed a large portion of what is now French Polynesia. Under French rule, Tahitians were permitted to participate in sport, singing, and dancing competitions one day a year: Bastille Day. The single day of celebration evolved into the major Heiva i Tahiti festival in Papeete Tahiti, where traditional events such as canoe races, tattooing, and fire walks are held. The singing and dancing competitions continue with music composed with traditional instruments such as the nasal flute and ukulele.

United Kingdom
Within the UK, London has a large French contingent, and celebrates Bastille Day at various locations across the city including Battersea Park, Camden Town and Kentish Town. Live entertainment is performed at Canary Wharf, with weeklong performances of French theatre at the Lion and Unicorn Theatre in Kentish Town. Restaurants feature cabarets and special menus across the city, and other celebrations include garden parties and sports tournaments. There is also a large event at the Bankside and Borough Market, where there is live music, street performers, and traditional French games played.

United States
The United States has over 20 cities that conduct annual celebrations of Bastille Day. The different cities celebrate with many French staples such as food, music, games, and sometimes the recreation of famous French landmarks.

Baltimore, Maryland, has a large Bastille Day celebration each year at Petit Louis in the Roland Park area of Baltimore. Boston has a celebration annually, hosted by the French Cultural Center for 40 years. The street festival occurs in Boston's Back Bay neighborhood, near the Cultural Center's headquarters. The celebration includes francophone musical performers, dancing, and French cuisine. New York City has numerous Bastille Day celebrations each July, including Bastille Day on 60th Street hosted by the French Institute Alliance Française between Fifth and Lexington Avenues on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, Bastille Day on Smith Street in Brooklyn, and Bastille Day in Tribeca. There is also the annual Bastille Day Ball, taking place since 1924. Philadelphia's Bastille Day, held at Eastern State Penitentiary, involves Marie Antoinette throwing locally manufactured Tastykakes at the Parisian militia, as well as a re-enactment of the storming of the Bastille. (This Philadelphia tradition ended in 2018. ) In Newport, Rhode Island, the annual Bastille Day celebration is organized by the local chapter of the Alliance Française. It takes place at King Park in Newport at the monument memorializing the accomplishments of the General Comte de Rochambeau whose 6,000 to 7,000 French forces landed in Newport on 11 July 1780. Their assistance in the defeat of the English in the War of Independence is well documented and is proof of the special relationship between France and the United States. In Washington D.C., food, music, and auction events are sponsored by the Embassy of France. There is also a French Festival within the city, where families can meet period entertainment groups set during the time of the French Revolution. Restaurants host parties serving traditional French food.
 * Northeastern States

In Dallas, Texas, the Bastille Day celebration, "Bastille On Bishop", began in 2010 and is held annually in the Bishop Arts District of the North Oak Cliff neighborhood, southwest of downtown just across the Trinity River. Dallas' French roots are tied to the short lived socialist Utopian community La Réunion, formed in 1855 and incorporated into the City of Dallas in 1860. Miami's celebration is organized by "French & Famous" in partnership with the French American Chamber of Commerce, the Union des Français de l'Etranger and many French brands. The event gathers over 1,000 attendees to celebrate "La Fête Nationale". The location and theme change every year. In 2017, the theme was "Guinguette Party" and attracted 1,200 francophiles at The River Yacht Club. New Orleans, Louisiana, has multiple celebrations, the largest in the historic French Quarter. In Austin, Texas, the Alliance Française d’Austin usually conducts a family-friendly Bastille Day party at the French Legation, the home of the French representative to the Republic of Texas from 1841 to 1845.
 * Southern States

Chicago, Illinois, has hosted a variety of Bastille Day celebrations in a number of locations in the city, including Navy Pier and Oz Park. The recent incarnations have been sponsored in part by the Chicago branch of the French-American Chamber of Commerce and by the French Consulate-General in Chicago. Milwaukee's four-day street festival begins with a "Storming of the Bastille" with a 43-foot replica of the Eiffel Tower. Minneapolis, Minnesota, has a celebration with wine, French food, pastries, a flea market, circus performers and bands. Also in the Twin Cities area, the local chapter of the Alliance Française has hosted an annual event for years at varying locations with a competition for the "Best Baguette of the Twin Cities." Montgomery, Ohio, has a celebration with wine, beer, local restaurants' fare, pastries, games and bands. St. Louis, Missouri, has annual festivals in the Soulard neighborhood, the former French village of Carondelet, Missouri, and in the Benton Park neighborhood. The Chatillon-DeMenil Mansion in the Benton Park neighborhood, holds an annual Bastille Day festival with reenactments of the beheading of Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI, traditional dancing, and artillery demonstrations. Carondelet also began hosting an annual saloon crawl to celebrate Bastille Day in 2017. The Soulard neighborhood in St. Louis, Missouri celebrates its unique French heritage with special events including a parade, which honors the peasants who rejected the monarchy. The parade includes a 'gathering of the mob,' a walking and golf cart parade, and a mock beheading of the King and Queen.
 * Midwestern States

Portland, Oregon, has celebrated Bastille Day with crowds up to 8,000, in public festivals at various public parks, since 2001. The event is coordinated by the Alliance Française of Portland. Seattle's Bastille Day celebration, held at the Seattle Center, involves performances, picnics, wine and shopping. Sacramento, California, conducts annual "waiter races" in the midtown restaurant and shopping district, with a street festival.
 * Western States

One-time celebrations

 * 1979: A concert with Jean-Michel Jarre on the Place de la Concorde in Paris was the first concert to have one million attendees.
 * 1989: France celebrated the 200th anniversary of the French Revolution, notably with a monumental show on the Champs-Élysées in Paris, directed by French designer Jean-Paul Goude. President François Mitterrand acted as a host for invited world leaders.
 * 1990: A concert with Jarre was held at La Défense near Paris.
 * 1994: The military parade was opened by Eurocorps, a newly created European army unit including German soldiers. This was the first time German troops paraded in France since 1944, as a symbol of Franco-German reconciliation.
 * 1995: A concert with Jarre was held at the Eiffel Tower in Paris.
 * 1998: Two days after the French football team became World Cup champions, huge celebrations took place nationwide.
 * 2004: To commemorate the centenary of the Entente Cordiale, the British led the military parade with the Red Arrows flying overhead.
 * 2007: To commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome, the military parade was led by troops from the 26 other EU member states, all marching at the French time.
 * 2014: To commemorate the 100th anniversary of the outbreak of the First World War, representatives of 80 countries who fought during this conflict were invited to the ceremony. The military parade was opened by 76 flags representing each of these countries.
 * 2017: To commemorate the 100th anniversary of the United States of America's entry into the First World War, president of France Emmanuel Macron invited U.S. president Donald Trump to celebrate a centuries-long transatlantic tie between the two countries. Trump was reported to have admired the display, and pushed for the United States to "top it" with a proposed military parade on 10 November 2018 (the eve of the Armistice Day centenary).

Incidents during Bastille Day

 * In 2002, Maxime Brunerie attempted to shoot French President Jacques Chirac during the Champs-Élysées parade.
 * In 2009, Paris youths set fire to more than 300 cars on Bastille Day.
 * In 2016, Tunisian terrorist Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel drove a truck into crowds during celebrations in the city of Nice. 86 people were killed and 434 injured along the Promenade des Anglais, before the attacker was killed in a shootout with police.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Bastille Day


text:
Talk:Baby Boom

Is there much widespread agreement on what the Baby Boom years are? I have three siblings born before 1965, but I never thought of them as Boomers.

 * I've always thought of "boomers" as those who remember or were at least greatly influenced by the Kennedy presidency. I was born under Kennedy, but far too late to remember him as president (or even Johnson for that matter), so I never considered myself a "boomer".  My older sister, maybe (b. 1957), and certainly my uncles born in the fifties.  --LDC

Who coined the phrase?

I would take issue with the claim that the reason that they are influential right now is that they are in great numbers. It's at least as plausible to think they're influential because they're in the prime of life. --LMS

Most definitions of the baby boom that I've seen describe it in demographic terms rather than in terms of some sort of shared generational identity. And most of those definitions seem to define the end of the American baby boom as beign 1964. However, I ran across an author some 10 or 15 or so years ago who argued that the generation that we think of as "boomers" probably more correctly can be defined as running from about 1940 to 1960. (This author, I believe, coined the term "thirteeners" for Generation X, because they were the 13th generation in the United States).

Consider, for example, that the Beatles and Janis Joplin were all born during WWII, not after it, and most people born in 1964 probably don't have much of a boomer identity. That, of course, assumes that we define that generation according to some other criterion than just a statistical bulge in the United States (and how do other countries define that generation? In Denmark, they define the generation more in political terms, and call it the 68ers, because 1968 was the sort of  pinnacle of the political activism that frequently characterized that generation).

As for how one might want incorporate all of this into an article on Baby Boomers, I don't really know.

Why is this an article about the Baby Boom generation, rather than about the Baby Boom itself? 131.183.81.100 00:38 Apr 27, 2003 (UTC)

 * Good question. We should also have an article about baby booms in general - the one described in this article isn't the only one. --mav

This page needs to merge with Baby boomer. -- Minesweeper 08:47 May 14, 2003 (UTC)

 * I'd suggest "Baby Boom" is the better title for the merge -- Tarquin 13:01 14 May 2003 (UTC)

Redirect, vfd
This page was nominated for deletion but a redirect was chosen instead, see Votes for deletion/Baby Boom

Left a notice on the above about how screwed up this vote was. All the below links were orphaned; There are three that point to the movie this was redirected too, all brief, hardly notable actors bios. The following pages link to here: View (previous 50) (next 50) (20 | 50 | 100 | 250 | 500).

* Oberlin College * University of New Brunswick * Sansei Japanese American * The Population Bomb * Medicare (United States) * Infant formula * Talk:Baby boomer * Generation gap * Sam Shepard * Sam Wanamaker * User:Jebdogdaddy * Kate Jackson * Harold Ramis * Indiana University Bloomington * Clark Kerr * Post-Confederation history of Canada * History of women in the United States * History of the United States (1988–present) * List of movies made into TV shows * The Night Flier * Category:The Beatles * Thirtysomething * 1988-89 United States network television schedule * Etch-A-Sketch * The Dalton School * Wikipedia:Today's featured article/June 2004 * Wikipedia:Today's featured article/June 18, 2004 * User:Jkiang/University of Washington rewrite * List of child related articles * The Legend of the Lone Ranger * Wikipedia:Votes for deletion/Baby Boom * Indian Head test card * Chris Noth * Palatine High School * User:Carl Henderson * Mary Kay Place * Prez (DC Comics) * Northeast Philadelphia * User:Fabartus * List of movies set in New England * Working Classics * MGM Television * List of Channel 8 programmes * Crime in Japan * List of Generations * The Crimea (band) * California Master Plan for Higher Education

'''Consequently, I'm changing the redirect to the next logical cultural home, Baby boomer, which it is ICONIC FOR in any event. This idiocy should have never occured. Fra nkB 09:20, 9 April 2006 (UTC)

title: Talk:Baby Boom


text:
Talk:Blowfish (disambiguation)

Untitled
Isn't a blowfish a kind of, well, fish? And what about Hootie and the?

Errr, possibly, but not in my country. I guess this is the reason that the data compression algorithms are all subpages. Maybe encryption algorithms should be too, to make sure they don't clash with more mundane topics of the same name. Not a problem for RC4 and triple-Des, but there is a Tiger and a Serpent. Anyway, i just wrote this because there was an open link to it from one of the crypto pages. Better track that down and fix it if this moves.

Added a note on the same. The fish is usually called a puffer, so the collision between the two isn't too bad. :)

What does "symmetric, secret key, block cypher" mean? --LMS

database error? please check it...
look at screenshot: http://img206.imageshack.us/img206/7489/blowfishwikipedia0tq.png

article Blowfish is mixed with Dopamine (disambiguation)

 * bug was fixed

pha patti
 * now everything is OK

title: Talk:Blowfish (disambiguation)


text:
Blowfish (cipher)

Blowfish is a symmetric-key block cipher, designed in 1993 by Bruce Schneier and included in many cipher suites and encryption products. Blowfish provides a good encryption rate in software, and no effective cryptanalysis of it has been found to date for smaller files. It is recommended Blowfish should not be used to encrypt files larger than 4GB in size, Twofish should be used instead.

Blowfish has a 64-bit block size and therefore it could be vulnerable to Sweet32 birthday attacks.

Schneier designed Blowfish as a general-purpose algorithm, intended as an alternative to the aging DES and free of the problems and constraints associated with other algorithms. At the time Blowfish was released, many other designs were proprietary, encumbered by patents, or were commercial or government secrets. Schneier has stated that "Blowfish is unpatented, and will remain so in all countries. The algorithm is hereby placed in the public domain, and can be freely used by anyone."

Notable features of the design include key-dependent S-boxes and a highly complex key schedule.

The algorithm
Blowfish has a 64-bit block size and a variable key length from 32 bits up to 448 bits. It is a 16-round Feistel cipher and uses large key-dependent S-boxes. In structure it resembles CAST-128, which uses fixed S-boxes. The adjacent diagram shows Blowfish's encryption routine. Each line represents 32 bits. There are five subkey-arrays: one 18-entry P-array (denoted as K in the diagram, to avoid confusion with the Plaintext) and four 256-entry S-boxes (S0, S1, S2 and S3).

Every round r consists of 4 actions:

The F-function splits the 32-bit input into four 8-bit quarters and uses the quarters as input to the S-boxes. The S-boxes accept 8-bit input and produce 32-bit output. The outputs are added modulo 232 and XORed to produce the final 32-bit output (see image in the upper right corner).

After the 16th round, undo the last swap, and XOR L with K18 and R with K17 (output whitening).

Decryption is exactly the same as encryption, except that P1, P2, ..., P18 are used in the reverse order. This is not so obvious because xor is commutative and associative. A common misconception is to use inverse order of encryption as decryption algorithm (i.e. first XORing P17 and P18 to the ciphertext block, then using the P-entries in reverse order).

Blowfish's key schedule starts by initializing the P-array and S-boxes with values derived from the hexadecimal digits of pi, which contain no obvious pattern (see nothing up my sleeve number). The secret key is then, byte by byte, cycling the key if necessary, XORed with all the P-entries in order. A 64-bit all-zero block is then encrypted with the algorithm as it stands. The resultant ciphertext replaces P1 and P2. The same ciphertext is then encrypted again with the new subkeys, and the new ciphertext replaces P3 and P4. This continues, replacing the entire P-array and all the S-box entries. In all, the Blowfish encryption algorithm will run 521 times to generate all the subkeys – about 4 KB of data is processed.

Because the P-array is 576 bits long, and the key bytes are XORed through all these 576 bits during the initialization, many implementations support key sizes up to 576 bits. The reason for that is a discrepancy between the original Blowfish description, which uses 448-bit keys, and its reference implementation, which uses 576-bit keys. The test vectors for verifying third-party implementations were also produced with 576-bit keys. When asked which Blowfish version is the correct one, Bruce Schneier answered: "The test vectors should be used to determine the one true Blowfish".

Another opinion is that the 448 bits limit is present to ensure that every bit of every subkey depends on every bit of the key, as the last four values of the P-array don't affect every bit of the ciphertext. This point should be taken in consideration for implementations with a different number of rounds, as even though it increases security against an exhaustive attack, it weakens the security guaranteed by the algorithm. And given the slow initialization of the cipher with each change of key, it is granted a natural protection against brute-force attacks, which doesn't really justify key sizes longer than 448 bits.

Blowfish in practice
Blowfish is a fast block cipher, except when changing keys. Each new key requires the pre-processing equivalent of encrypting about 4 kilobytes of text, which is very slow compared to other block ciphers. This prevents its use in certain applications, but is not a problem in others.

In one application Blowfish's slow key changing is actually a benefit: the password-hashing method (crypt $2, i.e. bcrypt) used in OpenBSD uses an algorithm derived from Blowfish that makes use of the slow key schedule; the idea is that the extra computational effort required gives protection against dictionary attacks. See key stretching.

Blowfish has a memory footprint of just over 4 kilobytes of RAM. This constraint is not a problem even for older desktop and laptop computers, though it does prevent use in the smallest embedded systems such as early smartcards.

Blowfish was one of the first secure block ciphers not subject to any patents and therefore freely available for anyone to use. This benefit has contributed to its popularity in cryptographic software.

bcrypt is a password hashing function which, combined with a variable number of iterations (work "cost"), exploits the expensive key setup phase of Blowfish to increase the workload and duration of hash calculations, further reducing threats from brute force attacks.

bcrypt is also the name of a cross-platform file encryption utility developed in 2002 that implements Blowfish.

Weakness and successors
Blowfish's use of a 64-bit block size (as opposed to e.g. AES's 128-bit block size) makes it vulnerable to birthday attacks, particularly in contexts like HTTPS. In 2016, the SWEET32 attack demonstrated how to leverage birthday attacks to perform plaintext recovery (i.e. decrypting ciphertext) against ciphers with a 64-bit block size. The GnuPG project recommends that Blowfish not be used to encrypt files larger than 4 GB due to its small block size.

A reduced-round variant of Blowfish is known to be susceptible to known-plaintext attacks on reflectively weak keys. Blowfish implementations use 16 rounds of encryption, and are not susceptible to this attack.

Bruce Schneier has recommended migrating to his Blowfish successor, Twofish.

title: Blowfish (cipher)


text:
Talk:Blowfish (cipher)

Endianness
Anyone inclined to talk about endianness issues with implementations? Including efficiency questions about using htonl and ntohl or equivalent?

Disambiguation?
Isn't a blowfish a kind of, well, fish? And what about Hootie and the?

Errr, possibly, but not in my country. I guess this is the reason that the data compression algorithms are all subpages. Maybe encryption algorithms should be too, to make sure they don't clash with more mundane topics of the same name. Not a problem for RC4 and triple-Des, but there is a Tiger and a Serpent. Anyway, i just wrote this because there was an open link to it from one of the crypto pages. Better track that down and fix it if this moves.

Added a note on the same. The fish is usually called a puffer, so the collision between the two isn't too bad. :)

Question
What does "symmetric, secret key, block cypher" mean? --LMS
 * "symmetric, and secret key" means that it uses the same secret key for both encryption and decryption (compare public key cryptography), and "block cipher" means it encrypts data a block at a time (compare stream cipher).

What is the time complexity of the blowfish encryption/decryption algorithm? --DWB

 * Quite obviously, O(1) for a single block, O(n) for n blocks since the number of rounds is constant regardless of key size. -- intgr 22:25, 27 September 2006 (UTC)

Another question: The article says it cannot be used with some applications. Which applications? Can anyone expand on which applications it works well with and which applications is does not work well with so I don't have to get a degree in cryptography or have a user's applications crash to find out? Thanks! -DSp —Preceding unsigned comment added by 65.126.45.70 (talk) 17:27, 18 February 2009 (UTC)

 * Just like it says: if the key changes a lot, you'll spend all your time handling new keys. There's no application it's insecure in, just some it's very slow in.  ciphergoth (talk) 09:25, 19 February 2009 (UTC)

The removal of cryptoanalysis result by Schmidt
On an email correspondense, I pointed out to Dieter Schmidt that the conclusion of his cryptoanalysis paper is wrong, and after this he retracted his article. The problem is, that while subkeys P3 and P4 do not depend on P1 and P2 (and this is a somewhat interesting observation), this does not mean that P3 and P4 do not depend on 64 bits of userkey. This is because the userkey bits will be cycled into the P-array, before any subkey encryptions take place. So if, for example, the userkey is 448 bits long, the first 64 bits will go to P1 and P2, and ALSO into P15 and P16. Then, P15 and P16 (and thus the first 64 bits) WILL affect the encryption iteration whose final value will be put into P3 and P4. -- 84.251.21.229 13:04, 28 August 2006 (UTC)
 * Thanks for letting us know. (The paper has been withdrawn from ePrint: ). — Matt Crypto 13:31, 28 August 2006 (UTC)

"Diagram on the right" isn't
Somewhere along the line a diagram went missing. The second paragraph refers to "the diagram on the right" that describes the F-function, but there is only one diagram. --Joe Sewell 20:58, 27 September 2006 (UTC)

 * I can see two diagrams - one on the right in the infobox, and the other on the left under the "The algorithm" section. This particular paragraph refers to the image in the infobox. Now that I see it, I agree that it can be confusing. Unfortunately, moving infobox around is out of the question, and duplicating the image would be silly as well. Any ideas how to improve it? -- intgr 22:16, 27 September 2006 (UTC)

Why is this algorithm called 'blowfish'?
If I look at the image, I would think it's called 'blowfish' because it blows up the plaintext while encrypting (the S-boxes have an 8-bit input and a 32-bit output). If someone knows the official reason or explanation why this algorithm is called 'blowfish', please add it to the article. --Bernard François 15:37, 15 October 2006 (UTC)
 * My memory is that the analogy was to the pufferfish which defends itself well by both armed and poisonous. A good cypher algorithm would do something similar, metaphorically. Having said that, however, I can't connect it to any particular source, and so I'm not sure it belongs in the article. ww 02:18, 16 October 2006 (UTC)
 * Actually the pufferfish is also called blowfish. It blows itself up like a balloon to impress. The input of the S-boxes gets blown up in a similar way... --Bernard François 15:52, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

Is the description of the Blowfish decryption right?
Please pardon me if I am wrong, but it seems the use of P17 and P18 in the Blowfish article is misleading if not wrong. The article states:

"Blowfish [...] can be inverted simply by XORing P17 and P18 to the ciphertext block, then using the P-entries in reverse order"

Though it seems reasonable at the first glance, I beleive that after application of XOR to P18 and Ln (the left part of the of the ciphertext), you will NOT get the intput of the last rounds F function, which is the case in the simpliest Feistel network. Instead one gets the input scrabled by XOR with F17 (or F18, depending on how you understand the fraze "using the P-entries in reverse order"). This means that there would be not guarantee in general that the first decryption round F xor Rn will give the correct L[n-1].

If, instead, we just use P18 instead of P1, P17 instead of P2, and so on, in a regular Blowfish net, we will get a correct input for the last F function in the first round (namely, Ln xor P18). The F(Ln xor P18) xor Rn will give you (L[n-1] xor P17), because xor is commutative and associative. The result will be later XORed with P17 to yield the L[n-1] in the second round -- the correct input for the second F; by induction, one gets at the last round the correct input for the last F, which is L0 xor P1, and by using this F in (F xor R1) we get (R0 xor P2) (since the xor with P2 was not yet undeone). The final XOR operation will perform (R0 xor P2) xor P2 = R0 (since we use P2 instead of P17) and (L0 xor P1) xor P1 = L0, thus reconstituting the plaintext.

If the above is right, then the correct recomendation of how to use Blowfish should read: "use P1, P2, ..., P18 entries in reverse order to decrypt". The "XORing P17 and P18" recommendation is wrong and should be omitted. The similar wording to the one I suggest is used, by the way, by Bruce Schneier himself in his blowfish paper:

http://www.schneier.com/paper-blowfish-fse.html

If my understanding is right I suggest that the article part describing Blowfish decryption is corrected accordingly...

Sincerely, Saulius Grazulis ((grazulis) commercial-at (akl) period (lt)) 193.219.56.14

Saulius has a point. It is definitly wrong (and misleading)! Change it. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 94.189.146.252 (talk) 22:36, 9 April 2009 (UTC)

Changed lede not to say Twofish gets more attention than Blowfish
While Twofish did get much more attention than Blowfish during the AES process, that no longer seems to be the case: Blowfish is still interesting because it's widely used in SSH implementations and so forth, but fewer applications use Twofish and it's no longer on a standards track. If this seems incorrect, revert. 75.24.110.218 21:44, 22 July 2007 (UTC)

sign extension bug
The sign extension bug existed as early as 1994 (Dr. Dobb's Journal) and as late as 2004 (from the code available at Schneier.com) and was confirmed by Schneier and his employees. The sign extension bug is quite serious for keys chosen at random. (No problem for ASCII keys, though, due to no sign extension of ASCII characters). Ra2007 (talk) 20:54, 10 December 2007 (UTC)
 * Just checked, although the sign extension bug has been confirmed at various places, the source code credited to Bruce Schneier at schneier.com still has the sign extension bug http://www.schneier.com/code/bfsh-sch.zip even today (12-10-2007). The ohter links above should help confirm that this is a real bug and provide sources.  Ra2007 (talk) 21:00, 10 December 2007 (UTC)

Advising against Blowfish?
"Bruce Schneier now advises against the use of Blowfish, and recommends using Twofish instead."

I think this sentence should be cleaned up - it doesn't appear to be accurately referencing its source.

Bruce Schneier does comment that he recommends Twofish instead. However he only indicates that he's "amazed" that Blowfish is still being used -- he doesn't explicitly state nor imply that Blowfish should not be used. Offering an up-to-date alternative is not an advisory against using the still-secure Blowfish algorithm.

This sentence should be cleaned up for clarity and for the sake of faithful referencing. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 208.65.221.154 (talk) 00:02, 6 May 2008 (UTC)

 * I edited the Twofish recommendation to read in a less "Blowfish negative" fashion; I hope it now reflects more closely what Schneier said in the referenced interview. -- Rydra Wong (talk) 05:00, 6 May 2008 (UTC)

"4KiB is relatively large" vs. "relatively small"
An earlier post was reverted that changed "relatively large" to "relatively small" and the boilerplate "thanks for experimenting" template appeared on the IP address talk page. I have reinstated the reverted change. My justification for doing so is as follows.

The revert was based on a misinterpretation of the context in which the wording was placed. The sentence mentions "early smartcards" at the end, and the reverting party used this as justification for a 4KiB Blowfish implementation being referred to as "relatively LARGE," because for most smart cards, it certainly would be, as the capacity of those devices is measured in single- or double-digit kibibyte counts, and 4KiB out of a card with a 12KiB EEPROM is 1/3 of the total storage on the card. Relative to most modern embedded devices, 4KiB is very, very small. An ancient Linksys 802.11b wireless router (BEFSR11) is an excellent example, with 512KiB of ROM and 2MiB of RAM; a 4KiB Blowfish implementation, uncompressed, would consume 1/128 of the total ROM. That being a router from many years ago, newer SOHO routers often have specifications exceeding these significantly.

Given that the statement refers to the "relative" size of a 4KiB chunk of code, the question to ask is "relative to WHAT?" Given that most embedded devices that can even handle a 4KiB Blowfish implementationin the first place tend to have specifications far exceeding 4KiB of code space, I would argue that "early smartcards" (or PIC microcontrollers, or an Intel 8051, or a W65C02) are not an appropriate basis for the relative size of said chunk of code. If you disagree, please do so before reverting the edit again. Daivox (talk • contribs) 21:15, 26 June 2008 (UTC)

 * Since I have worked with crypto in embedded systems and happen to watch this page I should perhaps comment: Last time I worked with embedded systems was in 2000. The cars (as in automobiles) we programmed for then had 16 kilobytes of RAM and about as much ROM per node, and up to 23 such nodes in one car. They also had a main node in the car with anything from about 100 kbyte to 4 Mbyte of RAM depending on type of car. Note that that was high end luxury cars. Most cars had much less computing power than that. Similar numbers were also valid for the nodes on engines for big ships that we also programmed at the same company. Now that was 8 years ago so if Moore's law applies to computers in cars then modern cars perhaps have about 512 kbyte of RAM in the smaller nodes.
 * Back then we did prefer to use ciphers with a RAM footprint of tops 258 bytes or less. (258 bytes = RC4.) But I guess today Blowfish with a 4 kbyte footprint would be okay. Although compared to XTEA Blowfish has a pretty huge RAM footprint. So it depends on if you compare the size with the space available in the embedded systems or with other ciphers.
 * --David Göthberg (talk) 23:35, 26 June 2008 (UTC)

 * Perhaps the statement regarding relative size of the algorithm's implementation should be removed, leaving only the size figure; as you have stated, Blowfish is not necessarily going to be practical in very small embedded systems anyway (i.e. smart cards) and so any thoughts about embedded application should be omitted and left to the reader's imagination, with the 4KiB figure as one point of reference. Also, I've noticed that there are zero citations in the "Blowfish in practice" section, which I feel should be remedied by someone who cares more than I currently do.  Who knows?  I may have been arguing a moot point since there's no proof! :)  Daivox (talk) 00:17, 27 June 2008 (UTC)

 * Yeah, simply removing the words "relatively small" is probably a good suggestion, since as you and I now have realised both "small" and "big" is true depending on what you compare with.
 * --David Göthberg (talk) 03:24, 27 June 2008 (UTC)

Pop culture reference
Blowfish is specifically mentioned as being used by Agent Renee Walker to encrypt data in the "9:00 p.m.-10:00 p.m." episode in season 7 of 24. --Nlaverdure (talk) 00:41, 19 March 2009 (UTC)

 * In my opinion they went WAY TO FAR. One thing is to "invent" in a TV-Show that you can break a "super-duper" cipher in a few seconds and without any software tool claiming your know "super hidden back doors". Another completely different thing is saying the cipher is called Blowfish and also have the character saying that he knows the inventor (this guy has a name and he's Bruce Schneier) and, last but not least claiming that Blowfish is riddled with backdoors and breakable in a few seconds! I can't even break a zip file in a "few seconds". If I was Schneier I would take serious offense to that. Up to date there is no proven attack that works with Blowfish, then Blowfish has a key size between 32bit and 448bit, so it seems to me pretty obvious that if you need to encrypt a secret you'd go for 448bit also due to the fact that for a modern CPU it makes not much difference in computational time and so why bother choosing a key of a middle size, in "24" however the FBI analyst says that it had been encrypted with a 148bit key which doesn't seem a possible number to me since it is not divisible per 8. Why do they love to screw up details so much? They could have invented a hypothetical new cipher, nobody would have argued then. Why hurting Bruce Schneier? --Legba (talk) 22:08, 24 March 2009 (UTC)

Decryption description is wrong!
Saulius has a point. It is definitely wrong (and misleading)! It's OK now. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 94.189.146.252 (talk) 22:42, 9 April 2009 (UTC)

blowfish are cute! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.142.12.79 (talk) 17:02, 17 June 2009 (UTC)

Link to online version of blowfish
I added the following link to the "External Links" section -- however Intgr removed it citing "Spammy Link"

 * Online encode/decode of blowfish encrypted data

However I see no reason for why it should not be included. The link provides an easy way to encode/decode a message with blowfish, and it is very relevant to the subject. There are no advert or other non-relevant content on the page/site linked, and I am not owner or affiliated in any way with the site. Looking at the "linking rules" I don't see any rules which excludes from having such a link to a subject-relevant-useful-resource. Is there some history between webnet77 and wikipedia which I would be unaware of that would warrant banning of linking? User:Sorenriise 07:40, 16 December 2010 (UTC)

Addendum -- Disabled my adblocker and found that the site _does_have a banner ad -- however looks pretty light to me..., would still suggest that linking would be worth it User:Sorenriise 07:48, 16 December 2010 (UTC)

 * With slogans like "Webnet77 Web Hosting", "High intensity Hosting!", "Affordable Quality Hosting with Fast Friendly Service", Google ads, a flashing banner ad, etc. I'd say it's hard to make a case that the link is not spammy.
 * From a security point of view, this link is obviously useless for encrypting/decrypting actual messages. Not only does it go over an insecure connection, through someone else's servers, but the block cipher is only a part of cryptography — real encryption software would also need block cipher modes of operation, MAC and KDF/key strengthening. It's just a toy, hardly useful for any purpose. -- intgr [talk] 08:44, 16 December 2010 (UTC)

 * Yes it is a toy, and no it cannot be used for any real security purpose -- however it does illustrate the working of the algo -- im not sure what you finding more objectionable, 1) that it is an illustration and not production worthy implementation, or 2) that the site has a banner ad? -- I.e. if I could find a similar illustration without a banner ad would that be acceptable in your POW? or would the changing of the link description to "Illustration" fix objections? Some indication of what would be a good way to fix, rather than just "no-dont-like" would be great.. sorenriise [talk] 15:25, 16 December 2010 (UTC)

 * I object mainly because it provides no value. For such a link, it displays too much glaring affiliation and ads.
 * What's there to illustrate? That you get back random-looking hex digits in the output? That's worse than nothing IMO, because some people will get the false impression that hex = Blowfish and that the output is twice as long as the input. People who do know what hex is are no wiser either. -- intgr [talk] 19:00, 16 December 2010 (UTC)

448-Bit vs 576-Bit
Just a thought, but wouldn't the extra P-Values increase total meta-difficulty (Decrypting a set of hashes) so long as the number of blocks affected is random enough per key? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 174.102.78.119 (talk)

Inclusion of "Bcrypt" utility
Wrt this revert, why do you think this "bcrypt" encryption utility even warrants a mention on Wikipedia? Are there any reliable sources covering it? -- intgr [talk] 20:54, 31 August 2015 (UTC)
 * Good question intgr. To now I was ensuring I moved someone else's content from the wrong article bcrypt to the right article (here) and disambiguated it. If we delete it then the hatnote should go too. Neutral on the content itself....let's have a look...it arguably has at least one RS, so I'm happy to leave in. Widefox ; talk 21:53, 31 August 2015 (UTC)

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Weaknesses
Isn't the sentence "Blowfish provides a good encryption rate in software and no effective cryptanalysis of it has been found to date." in contradiction with the section "Weakness and successors"? Specifically, "the SWEET32 attack demonstrated how to leverage birthday attacks to perform plaintext recovery (i.e. decrypting ciphertext) against ciphers with a 64-bit block size such as Blowfish."? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2001:67C:1220:80C:C4E7:4F99:A58F:5989 (talk) 15:09, 9 October 2017 (UTC)

Pseudo-code change and addition of a large code block
I'm a bit puzzled why you are changing the code and why those large arrays were added. Pseudo-code is supposed to be pseudo-code, it doesn't/shouldn't match a specific language. There is no need to have working C++ code in the article, same with the digits of Pi. SamStrongTalks (talk) 13:33, 1 July 2021 (UTC)

 * The Pseudo code contained mistakes, which are misleading for someone looking into the working of blowfish, indeed there is no need for functioning C++ code but the pseudo code should at least be correct in what it represents. As for the arrays, it can be useful to see how the S- and P-boxes actually look for someone interested in implementing blowfish, all the relevant information would be in one place. However they can be replaced/removed. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Lion Holler (talk • contribs) 13:45, 1 July 2021 (UTC)

 * Large arrays are removed. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Lion Holler (talk • contribs) 13:55, 1 July 2021 (UTC)

 * I'll be honest, I'm not familiar enough with the algorithm to actually evaluate if it has errors or not. Thanks for removing the large arrays. SamStrongTalks (talk) 13:59, 1 July 2021 (UTC)

 * If I have more time in the coming weeks I will add a more "pseudo-code like" code block. Now it is C++ as the previous code block was already very much C++ dependent.

title: Talk:Blowfish (cipher)