Cryptography: One-Time Pads

Introduction

One of the earliest, but still the best ways to design a secure code, is to devise a 'key' that is very long, ideally longer than the message to be encrypted. This means that all users of the cypher need to possess the same code-book, which causes a different problem: if any book is discovered, the whole system is compromised.
The most obvious solution to that problem is to implement a system where a different 'key' is used each time.
Cracking any code depends firstly on finding / recognising / understanding the 'pattern' involved. Again, one solution to that problem is to avoid any repitition in the first place.
This is where 'One Time Pads' can be useful, as they are typically only shared between two people, rather than 'everyone', and as the name suggests, each section of the cypher is only used once (if used correctly.)
The downside to this theory is that a large quantity of code must be pre-produced, hence the term 'pad' as typically many sheets of code must be produced, with each one being torn off and destroyed along the way.
The other downside to this system is that it can be difficult for the receiver to keep track of which page the sender is on, though keeping track of settings is a problem commonto many 'good' code systems! One common method to manage settings is to use a different set every day, however this can be inefficient if messages are sent less frequently, or less secure if more than one message is sent per day.

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