Book Review: Applied Cryptography: Protocols, Algorithms, and Source Code in C

Let me start by saying that I don't know a whole lot about cryptography. Originally, I didn't know anything, but once I started reading this book (I'm still not finished) I learned a lot. To be totally honest, I learned a lot on the first few pages. Bruce Schneier is one of those masters of their fields that can take a concept, lay it out for you and have you smack yourself because it looks so simple.

The spice of this book is that it goes over almost every crypto-system that's in use and explains where each one came from and what it does. Want to know how the Hash() function works? It's in there. Want to know what's behind CFEncode.exe (CFEncrypt.exe in version 4.01 and earlier)? It's in there (under DES). Want to write your own crypto extension in ColdFusion? This is a great starting point. Even if you just want to get a little more esoteric knowledge, this is a great book to have and read. I even gave a copy to Rain.Forrest.Puppy as a gift. :)

Applied Cryptography : Protocols, Algorithms, and Source Code in C

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