In the Beginning was Information

three of which must be fulfilled simultaneously for a given set ofsymbols to be a code:NC 1: A uniquely defined set of symbols is used.NC 2: The sequence of the individual symbols must be irregular:Examples: – . –––. – * –– **. – ..–qrst werb ggtzut(aperiodic)Counter examples:–––...–––...–––...–––... (periodic)–––––––––––––––– (the same symbol isrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr constantly repeated)NC 3: The symbols appear in clearly distinguishable structures(e. g. rows, columns, blocks, or spirals).In most cases a fourth condition is also required:NC 4: At least some symbols must occur repeatedly.Examples: Maguf bitfeg fetgur justig amus telge.Der grüne Apfel fällt vom Baum.The people are living in houses.It is difficult to construct meaningful sentences without using someletters more than once 11 . Such sentences are often rather grotesque,for example:11 Pangrams: A pangram is a sentence comprising all the letters of thealphabet, where each letter is used once only. No such sentence is knownin German; it should contain exactly 30 letters: a, b, c,..., z, as well asß,ä,ö and ü. Sentences comprising a few more than 30 letters, have beenconstructed, but they are often rather artificial.Examples of English sentences which contain all 26 letters, but with someletters repeated, are:– How quickly daft jumping zebras vex. (30 letters)– The five boxing wizards jump quickly. (31 letters)– Pack my box with five dozen liquor jugs. (32 letters)– The quick brown fox jumps over a lazy dog. (33 letters)62