Encryption tutorials

[Sidey]

Hullo,
I want to start learning about encryption but this topic is beyond the scope of any book I have. Sooo... does anyone know any C/C++ tutorials on encryption ? I want to buy a book eventually but i've just dished out lots of £££ for college textbooks so I'm kinda skint http://www.linuxnewbie.org/ubb/frown.gif

thanks,
Rich

[Dru Lee Parsec]

"The Code Book" by Simon Singh is a great book that covers teh history of encryption from ancient greece to the modern day. Not only does Simon tell the story of encryption but he describes is great detail how the differenct encryption schemes work adn how they were broken.

Great book, but not a "how to code in C" type of book.

The classic C code and encryption book is "Applied Cryptography: Protocols, Algorithms, and Source Code in C, 2nd Edition" by Bruce Schneier.

Both are great, but if you're just interested in learning a bit about encryption and not so much about the intricate details of RSA encryption as implemented in C code, then you'll probably get more information immediately out of "The Code Book".

[Glaurung]

A while back I've dl'd a cryptography book. I'll give you the address as soon as I can find it, but I think it was www.mindview.net (http://www.mindview.net)

Not sure though http://www.linuxnewbie.org/ubb/frown.gif

[Sidey]

cheers for the replies http://www.linuxnewbie.org/ubb/smile.gif

[Strike]

The Schneier book that Dru Lee suggested is good for coding and theory, both. But it is a bit old. I'd also recommend "Cryptography: Theory and Practice" by Douglas R. Stinson (ISBN# - 0-8493-8521-0) for more of just plain theory.

[LloydM]

The Handbook of Applied Cryptography is available online. Just search for it through Google.

Like DruLee said, I would suggest you read a simple introduction like The Code Book, and see if you enjoy the topic.

Have a look at Peter Gutmann's site and his links too. http://cs.auckland.ac.nz/~pgut001


[This message has been edited by LloydM (edited 13 November 2000).]

[nanode]

Slight digression, but a great fictional work about cryptography is "Cryptonomicon" by Neal Stephensen. I'm about 1/3 through and this book rocks.

A good mix of historical and modern cryptography issues, with some great hacker humor included.

There are a lot of true historic events and people that get incorporated into the plot, Pearl Harbor bombing, Alan Turing etc.

Also, the main character Randy is a Unix geek.