Alice and Bob

Alice and Bob are two commonly used placeholder names. They are used for archetypal characters in fields such as cryptography, game theory and physics. The names are used for convenience; for example, "Alice sends a message to Bob encrypted with his public key" is easier to follow than "Party A sends a message to Party B encrypted by Party B's public key." Following the alphabet, the specific names have evolved into common parlance within these fields—helping technical topics to be explained in a more understandable fashion.

Overview

These placeholder names are used for convenience and easier understanding. For example, if a writer wants to explain encrypted emails, the explanation might be:

Every reader can intuitively figure out that they themselves could do the same thing as Bob or Alice.

In cryptography and computer security, there are a number of widely used names for the participants in discussions and presentations about various protocols. The names are conventional, somewhat self-suggestive, sometimes humorous, and effectively act as metasyntactic variables.

Alice

Alice may refer to:

Literature

Books

Manga

Computers