-> If you have an eight letter password I think 26^8 is the expression
-> for the number of possible combinations.  If numbers are included
-> 36^8 is possible. You have 10 chances out of 36 that a number will
-> appear in each character position.
-> The odds are such that at least one number will usually appear.  But
-> because it's random, eight numbers may occur.
->
-> Passwords on BBS's and InterNet usually also include dashes (-),
-> Underlines (_), periods (.), and some other punctuation characters.
->
-> If you wish to ensure a number will occur and also limit how many of
-> them appear, then the algorythm does get a little messy.
By now, you've probably seen the little routine I wrote in a fit of
dementia a few days ago, which generated passwords of which the first
character wuld be an uppercase letter, the second a lowercase one, the
third a numerical digit, then back to uppercase for the fourth, and so
on. I hope nobody took it too seriously. It did what I set out to do
(at least, I suppose it did!), but I can't see anyone wanting to use it
in practice. But it did incorporate some interesting principles...
Even 26^8 is a truly gigantic number. I suspect you are more likely to
be killed by a falling meteorite in the next few seconds than you are to
correctly guess an 8-letter password!
                                 dow
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