IKEA Instructions for Algorithms

Appreciate the aesthetics, though I think it is more of the fool-proof design of IKEA's furniture that makes the easy-to-follow instructions possible.

I really like this idea.

One thing about about the public key cryptography example that I’ve often wondered, wouldn’t it be better to explain the private party’s contribution as a lock that can only be opened with the public keys?

What makes this tricky is that the public and private keys reverse roles when signing versus encrypting. Having these keys represented by different objects (physical locks or keys) depending on the usage can potentially make things more confusing.

Why does the HN title say "IKEA"? How are these related?

The diagrams are supposed to be similar to the instruction manuals you get with IKEA furniture.

Ahhh, okay. That went right over my head. Thanks.

These aren't very easy to decipher when there's some concepts going on that aren't very obvious at first glance.

Sometimes the instructions that come with and IKEA flat-pack are not very obvious except in retrospect.

(2018)