Editing The Code Book (section)

{{short description|Book by Simon Singh}}
{{about|the Simon Singh book|other uses|Codebook (disambiguation)}}
{{Infobox book
| name          = The Code Book
| title_orig    = 
| translator    = 
| image         = The Code Book.jpg
| caption = First edition (UK)
| author        = Simon Singh
| illustrator   = 
| cover_artist  = 
| country       = United Kingdom
| language      = English
| series        = 
| subject       = 
| genre         = Factual
| publisher     = [[Fourth Estate (imprint)|Fourth Estate]] (UK)<br>[[Doubleday (publisher)|Doubleday]] (US)
| pub_date      = 1999
| english_pub_date = 
| media_type    = 
| pages         = 416 (first edition)
| isbn          = 978-1-85702-879-9
| oclc= 59459928
| preceded_by   = 
| followed_by   = 
}}
'''''The Code Book: The Science of Secrecy from Ancient Egypt to Quantum Cryptography''''' is a book by [[Simon Singh]], published in 1999 by [[Fourth Estate (imprint)|Fourth Estate]] and [[Doubleday (publisher)|Doubleday]].

''The Code Book'' describes some illustrative highlights in the history of [[cryptography]], drawn from both of its principal branches, [[code]]s and [[cipher]]s.  Thus the book's title should not be misconstrued as suggesting that the book deals only with codes, and not with ciphers; or that the book is in fact a [[codebook]].<ref>In contemporary [[English language|English]]-language jargon, the word "code" is often used for any sort of secret communication, whether or not that communication is actually performed using a code in the strict sense. Some other languages, e.g., [[Polish language|Polish]], tend to do the opposite and refer to both principal types of [[cryptography]] as "cipher", as in "''[[Biuro Szyfrów]]''" ("Cipher Bureau").</ref>