On Wed, Apr 30, 2008 at 2:35 PM, root <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > >> > >> I don't know if that is of any interest but someone around here might > care > >> about the fact that Sage was probably the most mentioned (and cited) > >> mathematics software at the "First Conference for Symbolic Computation > and > >> Cryptography" (SCC 2008) in Beijing. > >> > >> Specifically, these authors/papers mentioned Sage: > >> > >> * Tobias Eibach and Gunnar Völkel: Optimising Gröbner Bases on Bivium > (used > >> Sage to implement attack) > >> * Burçin Eröcal: SCrypt: Using Symbolic Computation to Bridge the Gap > Between > >> Algebra and Cryptography (module for Sage) > >> * Ralf-Philipp Weinmann and Johannes Buchmann: Distributed Memory > Computation > >> of Row-Reduced Echelon Forms over Finite Fields (benchmarked against > Sage) > >> * Yours truly and Carlos Cid: Algebraic Techniques in Differential > >> Cryptanalysis (used Sage to implement attack) > >> > >> (... yes, I know that 3 out of 4 are Sage developers, but still ...) > >> > >> Another thing:Two talks dealt with Braid group cryptography, namely: > >> > >> * Robert Gilman, Alex D. Miasnikov, Alexei G. Myasnikov and Alexander > Ushakov: > >> New Developments in Commutator Key Exchange > >> * Alex D. Myasnikov and Alexander Ushakov: Cryptanalysis of the > >> Anshel-Anshel-Goldfeld-Lemieux Key Agreement Protocol > >> > >> The group developed a C++ library CRAG: > >> > >> """ > >> The Cryptography And Groups (CRAG) Library provides an environment to > test > >> cryptographic protocols constructed from non-commutative groups, for > example > >> the braid group. The Library is written in C++ and provides an interface > and > >> routines for computations. There are implementations of basic algebraic > >> objects like words, maps and subgroups. We plan to continually expand the > >> list of group-theoretic algorithms implemented in the library. In > addition > >> the Library will contain classes and routines implementing non-classical > >> heuristic approaches and tools to perform statistical and exploratory > >> analysis of algebraic data. Together with the C++ source code CRAG > contains > >> interface to Python scripting language. > >> """ > >> > >> http://www.acc.stevens.edu/downloads.php > >> > >> I don't know much about group theory but still I figured someone might > find it > >> interesting and is able to evaluate if it could be a good addition to > Sage. > > > >This is very interesting. I just have some general remarks. Alexi Myasnikov > >(a good friend of mine knows him well and that is what he calls him - > Alexi, not > >Alex. as on the website) is an extremely talented group theorist. I heard > that > >there was some discussion of him getting a Fields medal years ago when > >he announced > >his solution of the Tarski problem. That is his level. If he is behind > >this library > >then I think that it at least has the stamp of authority. BTW, both Alexi > and > >Gilbert Baumslag were behind MAGNUS, an infinite group theory package. I had > >a few (off-list, I think) emails with William Stein and Gilbert > >Baumslag, and I met > >with Gilbert face-to-face a month or so ago about MAGNUS and SAGE. The > >problem is that MAGNUS is designed in a way which makes its GUI front-end > >difficult to separate from its group-computational engine at the back-end. > As a > >bit of background, Gilbert Baumslag is also a superstar in the field > >of combinatorial > >group theory and has just recently moved from the math dept at CUNY to the > CS > >dept. This graphic design was probably Gilbert's idea and very much in > >line with some > >other (computer science) projects he has worked on. Anyway, > >MAGNUS->SAGE just didn't > >work out. I think the design of CRAG is different and may be easier to > integrate > >into SAGE. I do see that they have a free group and finitely presented group > >(C++) class, which is good. These are also in GAP though. What GAP > >does not have is > >"Definition of equations over finitely presented group", nor does it > >have any of the > >crypto stuff. > > > >So, I vote +1 to include it at least as an optional package. Making it > >a standard part of SAGE > >should IMHO wait until a solid FreeGroup and FinitelyPresentedGroup > >(Python) class > >are created for SAGE. If I had more time I would do this myself. > > > >Thanks again Martin for pointing this out. > > (disclaimer: I'm the person who set up the Magnus sourceforge site > and I worked for Gilbert Baumslag at City College) > > I know that there is an existing Python wrapper around Magnus.
Can you email the tarball or give me the url where it is posted? Also, can you define "around Magnus" more precisely? One one end of the spectrum, the full functionality of Magnus can be accessed via Python commands. On the other end, there exists one function which can be accessed from a Python command. > > I know that Magnus has a large number of C++ routines for group > theory that exist nowhere else. > > I know that Magnus can be used without the frontend (we used it > as a password mechanism for logging into linux using groups theory). I'm wonderirng how much of the backend is accessible. Gilbert gave me the impression that it would be very difficult to integrate Magnus into SAGE. (We discussed this issue specifically in person about a month ago.) Of course, my impression could be mistaken. > > I know that Magnus is designed to run procedures in parallel. > (not algorithms since they may not terminate; in general, > there are very few algorithms for this kind of work) > Using the procedures in parallel enable you to try various > approaches until one succeeds and then poison the others. > > I know that Magnus is GPL. > > I know that there are a large number of people who have collaborated > with Gilbert Baumslag over the years. Gilbert is definitely in the > superstar category (distinguished prof, 7 books, 150 papers, etc). Agreed. So is Myasnikov, IMHO. > > Tim Daly > > > > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ To post to this group, send email to sage-devel@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/sage-devel URLs: http://www.sagemath.org -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
