Edit-Distance computational attack idea

[ThomasCoon]

On the other hand, the number of enciphering mechanisms is inherently limited

I don't see why it is inherently  limited. Enciphering is producing output by applying certain operators, rules or procedures to the input. Since a procedure can be a combination of procedures and, next, one can imagine infinity of combinations, therefore the number of enciphering mechanisms is inherently unlimited. It is much the same as the number of mathematical functions is unlimited.

Here I agree with Anton. There could be a number of procedures and combinations of procedures. Because the author knew how the cipher worked beforehand, the procedures were easy to recognize. But since we do not know them, there are literally a million combinations to try.

Here is just a small portion of all the different things that could be going on:

• Are some characters always equivalent?
  (ex. Does [o] = [a]?)
  
  
• Are some characters equivalent only in certain combinations?
  (ex. [oiin] = [aiin] but [or] =/= [ar])
  
  
• Are some characters always nulls?
  
  
• Are some characters nulls only in certain positions?
  (ex. [y] is meaningful but not at end of words)
  
  
• Are some characters nulls in certain combinations?
  (ex. [o] in [or] is meaningful but [o] in [oaiin] is not)
  
  
• Are there "null positions" inside words?
  (ex. every third letter is meaningless)
  
  
• Are there "null positions" inside lines?
   (ex. every third word in a line is meaningless?)
  
  
• Are some characters doubled/tripled for no reason?
  (ex. aiiin, okeeey)
  
  
• Are some words repeated for no reason?
  (ex. qokeedy qokeedy qokeedy)
  
  
• Can a sign stand for more than one sound / a group of sounds?
  (ex. [y] = Latin -us, -is, -os)
  
  
• Can a sign stand for more than one sound / group of sounds  in different positions?
  (ex. [y] at word beginning = con/com, [y] at word end = us/is/os)
  
  
• Do spaces have meaning? All the time? Sometimes? None of the time?
  
  
• Are vowels written or not written?
  
  
• Is non-phonetic information (ex. numbers) also encrypted?