From: John Joyce <dangerwillrobinsondanger@...>
Date: 2007-04-27T21:10:37+09:00
Subject: Re: [QUIZ] Checking Credit Cards (#122)


On Apr 27, 2007, at 8:59 PM, Ruby Quiz wrote:

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> -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- 
> =-=-=-=-=-=-=
>
> Before a credit card is submitted to a financial institution, it  
> generally makes
> sense to run some simple reality checks on the number.  The numbers  
> are a good
> length and it's common to make minor transcription errors when the  
> card is not
> scanned directly.
>
> The first check people often do is to validate that the card  
> matches a known
> pattern from one of the accepted card providers.  Some of these  
> patterns are:
>
> 	+============+=============+===============+
> 	| Card Type  | Begins With | Number Length |
> 	+============+=============+===============+
> 	| AMEX       | 34 or 37    | 15            |
> 	+------------+-------------+---------------+
> 	| Discover   | 6011        | 16            |
> 	+------------+-------------+---------------+
> 	| MasterCard | 51-55       | 16            |
> 	+------------+-------------+---------------+
> 	| Visa       | 4           | 13 or 16      |
> 	+------------+-------------+---------------+
>
> All of these card types also generate numbers such that they can be  
> validated by
> the Luhn algorithm, so that's the second check systems usually  
> try.  The steps
> are:
>
> 	1. Starting with the next to last digit and continuing with every  
> other
> 	   digit going back to the beginning of the card, double the digit
> 	2. Sum all doubled and untouched digits in the number
> 	3. If that total is a multiple of 10, the number is valid
>
> For example, given the card number 4408 0412 3456 7893:
>
> 	Step 1:  8 4 0 8 0 4 2 2 6 4 10 6 14 8 18 3
> 	Step 2:  8+4+0+8+0+4+2+2+6+4+1+0+6+1+4+8+1+8+3 = 70
> 	Step 3:  70 % 10 == 0
>
> Thus that card is valid.
>
> Let's try one more, 4417 1234 5678 9112:
>
> 	Step 1:  8 4 2 7 2 2 6 4 10 6 14 8 18 1 2 2
> 	Step 2:  8+4+2+7+2+2+6+4+1+0+6+1+4+8+1+8+1+2+2 = 69
> 	Step 3:  69 % 10 != 0
>
> That card is not valid.
>
> This week's Ruby Quiz is to write a program that accepts a credit  
> card number as
> a command-line argument.  The program should print the card's type  
> (or Unknown)
> as well a Valid/Invalid indication of whether or not the card  
> passes the Luhn
> algorithm.
>

For completeness and to make this Quiz exercise valid to more people,  
can anyone include the information for other major credit cards from  
major countries? Japan: JCB,  et. al., U.K.: Barclay, et. al. , etc...
This would be good to expand the exercise and return more to our  
friends in various areas!
Discover is itself not found outside of North America, AFIK.