I am looking for a word that describes both of these activities, however the word coding does not seem to be suitable.
Likewise with encryption and decryption, cryption does not work well.
-
It's worth noting that, for practical purposes, a person who encodes/decodes digital information is often professionally called an archivist and refers to his work as archival.– HaLJul 31, 2012 at 16:09
-
Related: Word for encoder-decoder– RegDwigнtJul 31, 2012 at 16:34
-
Where would we be without you, @Reg? (knee-deep in unclosed duplicates, I suspect! :)– FumbleFingersJul 31, 2012 at 22:58
-
I agree this duplicates the related question (which asks for one "word [for] encoder and decoder functionality"). Note, the answer there correctly identifies a device that does both but doesn't answer the question asked. Should merge questions?– James Waldby - jwpat7Aug 1, 2012 at 16:55
-
This question is looking for a verb, the other for a noun. So they are different. There is not really a verb for "codec" or "endec", or none has been proposed so far. And no, the verb "to code" has its own meaning and is not the verb form of "codec".– donquixoteJun 7, 2016 at 5:40
|
Show 3 more comments
5 Answers
Cryptography
is the study of encryption and decryption.
codec
is software/hardware that does both encoding and decoding.
-
3Cryptography is the study of passing information without a third party being able to receive it. It wouldn't apply to encoding/decoding mp3s, for example.– z7sg ѪJul 31, 2012 at 18:21
-
4Codec is defined as the library describing the way to encode and decode a format. This answer is wrong. Cryptography doesn't relate to the ACTION of encrypting or decrypting, so the extra info you added is also wrong. Jul 31, 2012 at 20:27
-
@NathanC.Tresch This answer accepted as codec is the word i was looking for. Debate about crypography TBC.– NWSAug 1, 2012 at 6:41
Encode means : "To translate information into code"
Decode means : "To translate code into information"
Therefore translate would be used to describe them both.
Since translate may seem vague I would suggest some synonyms: transcribe, transpose, or convert.
answered Jul 31, 2012 at 15:52
Would transcoding be suitable in your context ?
-
Unfortunately the parallel construction of "transcryption" just looks like a misspelling of "transcription", which means something quite different. :/– MarthaªJul 31, 2012 at 16:00
-
5Ooh. I like transcryption. I shall find somewhere to use that and then shower disdain on those who attempt to correct it.– Andrew Leach ♦Jul 31, 2012 at 16:09
-
1"encode" and "decode" mean to translate between a logical form and a storable / serialized / encrypted form of information. "transcode" means to translate between two different encoded forms of information. A transcoder usually decodes and then encodes again, in a different format. A "codec", on the other hand, translates between a decoded and an encoded format, in both directions. So it is not quite the same. Jun 7, 2016 at 5:54
How about pure and simple “processing”?
Why does everyone and OP have a problem with "coding". This is the correct term for encoding and decoding. For example, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coding_theory
-
5Possibly because in a programming context it can cover almost everything we do. It becomes generic to the point of uselessness.– NWSAug 1, 2012 at 6:38
-
@NWS: The coding of a channel vs. the process of coding a program is not likely to be confused from context. The subjects aren't even of the same type (abstract idea vs. person) Aug 1, 2012 at 15:54
-
2In software development, it is desirable for a name to convey most of its meaning without much context, since we often work with portions of source code without examining the full context.– jpmc26Sep 24, 2016 at 1:32