The Naibbe cipher

[oshfdk]

To riff on your F1 analogy: You can actually learn a lot about the aerodynamics of a car based on a clay model.

My point is exactly this: one will learn very little about aerodynamics this way. Without actually building many simple working prototypes and adjusting designs to work better, one can only learn the shape. When little kids make F1 models they replicate the shape quite well, they add the front/rear downforce wings, etc. However, these elements are usually attached in a way that wouldn't work on a real car, because without knowing the function of these elements it's hard to imagine that it actually experiences a lot of downwards force (comparable to the weight of the actual car) and its job is to transfer this force to the chassis pushing the car into the ground.

Likewise with the cipher, unless we know what specific practical purpose certain process is designed to achieve, simply trying to mimic it may give us little in terms of practical knowledge.