Understanding Cryptography: A Textbook for Students and Practitioners at Dominant Systems Book Store

"The authors have succeeded in creating a highly valuable introduction to the subject of applied cryptography. I hope that it can serve as a guide for practitioners to build more secure systems based on cryptography, and as a stepping stone for future researchers to explore the exciting world of cryptography and its applications." (Bart Preneel, K.U.Leuven)

"The material is very well presented so it is clear to understand. The necessary amount of mathematics is used and complete yet simple examples are used by the authors to help the reader understand the topics. [The authors] appear to fully understand the concepts and follow a very good pedagogical process that helps the reader not only understand the different topics but motivate you to perform some of the exercises at the end of each chapter and browse some of the reference materials. I fully recommend this book to any software developer/designer working or considering working on a project that requires security." (John Canessa)

Customer Reviews & Comments
I came across this book on accident. I was googling around for articles by Preneel and found this book, in which he wrote the foreword. Frankly, I hope this book eventually replaces most, if not all of the mainstream texts on cryptography. My only complaint about this book is that I no longer feel like one of the rare geniuses that thoroughly and completely understands cryptography. Thanks to this book, any dummy off the street can understand cryptography nearly as well as I do and they do not need a computer science or math degree. No prerequisite knowledge is required, other than the ability to read but there is plenty of math if you want to study it. (Warning: I might be exaggerating a little. I really enjoy math and might be taking my math skills for granted. Just so I am clear, this is a Math textbook, which means the encryption algorithms are formally defined using math notation. However, the author's explanation of the math & algorithms is the most clear and easy to understand I have ever seen; which to me means, you do not need a strong background in mathematics to understand this material.) The following categories are scored 1-10. 1 being the lowest, through 10, the highest... - Readability (i.e. authors style of writing, is he to the point, write clear, how does he approach the topic, does he motivate, etc...) Score: 10 I personally do not care for analogies in cryptography books. If the author knows what he is talking about and can explain it, there is absolutely no need for stupid analogies. Another thing that drives me crazy is authors that "challenge you to think" too much. They can never get to the point and come right out and tell you something. Half the time, I can't figure out if they actually either do not know what they are talking about, or they simply do not know how to explain something and hide it behind a series of challenging questions...which they themselves cannot answer(as if to be objective or something). Frankly, I am a professional with over 10 years of experience. I do not buy books so that authors can beat around the bush with their knowledge; which, by the way, I find condescending, because they are supposed to be the experts. When I pay money for a technical book, I do it with the expectation that the author is knowledgeable, qualified to write about the topic, and will not waste my time playing mind games with me. That is what is so surprising about this book; it clearly says "textbook" on the cover, which made me hesitate, thinking... maybe this is too elementary, or like many college textbooks, challenges you to think too much. However, contrary to my concerns, this book is to the point and carefully explains details that other authors seem to miss. In addition, it is very practical coverage and still challenging enough to be motivational, in other words, you do not have to drink twelve cups of coffee just to get through it. To summarize this section, at this stage in my career, I really appreciate authors that can "thoroughly explain things in the fewest possible words, while still being crystal clear!" (Apparently, this is something I myself cannot do, as evidence above, but that is why I do not write books) - Organization Score: 10 I have many cryptography books that talk about critical aspects of the encryption processes in isolation without tying them together; this book is very well organized in that respect. - Real world Application (i.e. is this how it works in the real world or is this just theory that never gets used in practice) Score: 9 This is another category that makes this book stand out because the coverage is very practical. - Thoroughness (i.e. how rigorous is the book, is it a comprehensive review of technologies) Score: 7 Great Introduction to many areas! - Application & Implementation on Computer (i.e. code, algorithms, data-types, programming language tips/tricks...etc) Score: 5 Most books attempt to provide code but the code is based on static input and is poorly written, leaving you to wonder, why on earth they even bothered to try. Actually coding algorithms is not the focus of this book... I don't think it contains one line of code, but you can encrypt and decrypt, end-2-end on paper, if you want to, after reading it. As I mentioned earlier, this is a math book, so the algorithms are presented in mathematical notation.

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