Re: Book on Pre-MATH for cryptography and cryptanalysis. Reply
- From: Paul Rubin <http://phr.cx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: 26 Apr 2007 21:14:35 -0700
<rolof789@xxxxxxxx> writes:
James Street's review of this book on Amazon scared the crap out of
me. It looks like this is a book for me to aspire to.
I think he's overstating things. Don't be intimidated. The book is
sort of a watered-down version of the math parts of The Art of
Computer Programming vol 1, which is a true classic.
If this is what it takes for me to get my mind around cryptography,
then so be it. However, i think i need to cover some material before
embarking on this book. I am starting to get the picture that
discrete math is quite important in cryptography. But its a big
field. do I need all of it?
Um, depends on what your goals are. Applied Cryptography is mostly a
programmer's recipe book and it's fairly out of date by now, but in
any case most parts of it don't need that much math. For Koblitz's
book you're probably best off having a had decent calculus class and
an introductory abstract algebra class (one that talks about groups,
fields, etc.) but these are still entry level undergrad math classes.
For discrete math and algorithms, I guess Cormen/Leiserson/Rivest/Stein
was popular in the 1990's (not sure about now) if Knuth is too
old-fashioned for you:
http://theory.lcs.mit.edu/~clr/
I actually don't see that much math in most crypto papers I read, in
terms of specific math knowledge required. What's needed more is sort
of a cultural familiarity with how to reason mathematically.
May I ask why you are interested in this subject? Because you like
math and want to learn crypto theory? Because you're a programmer and
want to know some crypto in order to implement security features in
your apps? Because you're interested in crypto and its history, spy
stories, etc.? Some other reason? The answer to the above may help
with further suggestions.
Actually, if you want to study crypto theory, there's another book that
should be on your list, Introduction to Modern Cryptography by Bellare
and Rogaway:
http://www-cse.ucsd.edu/users/mihir/cse207/classnotes.html
This book is maybe of equal difficulty to Koblitz's though with fewer
formal math prerequisites. It is a crypto theory book through and
through, unlike Koblitz's (which is a math book) or Schneier (which
is a computer book).
A more intro-level book about crypto in general that you might like:
The Code Book, by Simon Singh.
.
- References:
- Prev by Date: Re: fixed block size
- Next by Date: JSH: I am SMARTER than you are
- Previous by thread: RE: Book on Pre-MATH for cryptography and cryptanalysis. Reply
- Next by thread: RE: Book on Pre-MATH for cryptography and cryptanalysis. Reply
- Index(es):
Relevant Pages
|
