Talk:Books on cryptography

message: I added a "Fiction" section (hope you don't mind), and started it off with Cryptonomicon. I realize the rest of the books listed here are technical non-fiction books regarding the subject, but since this is the list of books on cryptography, it seemed the place to list works of fiction that focus on the subject. Thoughts?  - Eisnel 17:13, 10 Jun 2004 (UTC)
replies: text: Sounds a good idea to me; I've added Harris' Enigma. — Matt 07:25, 11 Jun 2004 (UTC)
replies: text:  Sweet, I'll look around for even more... mainly because after Cryptonomicon I want to read more. I'll have to look at that Enigma book.  - Eisnel 00:09, 12 Jun 2004 (UTC)
thread_title:  Fiction 

message: Just some notes on historic works.
*A. De Grandpre, La Cryptographic Pratique (1905)
*M. Givierge, Cours de Cryptographie (1932)
*P. Hitt, Manual for the Solution of Military Ciphers (1918)
*P. Hitt, The A, B, C of Secret Writing (1935)
*H. Jose, La Cryptographie et ses Applications a l'art Militaire (1885)
*F. W. Kasiski, Die Geheimschriften und die Dechiffrir-Kunst (1863)
*A. Kerckhoffs, La Cryptographie Militaire ou des Chiffres Usites en Temp de Guerre (1883)
*A Langie, Cryptography (1922)
*A Langie and Soudart, Traite de Cryptographie (1935)
*P. B. Thomas, Secret Messages (1929)
*P. Valerio, Essai sur les Methodes de Dechiffrement (1893)
*E. B. F. Von Wastrowitz, Handbuch der Kryptographie (1881)
--Imran 23:18, 30 Jul 2004 (UTC)
replies: text: Imran, Argggh. Looks almost like the list I've been keeping prior to the big addition to the article. Yuh beat me to it! Good work, you found several I hadn't come across yet. ww 15:54, 2 Aug 2004 (UTC)
replies: text:  They're are lots of early works on crypto which I've never even heard of (see the COPAC list http://copac.ac.uk/copac/wzgw?id=7317998&f=a&rsn=7&page=2), I'll be moving to London soon so hopefully I'll be able to get ahold of some of them and check them out. --Imran 21:59, 2 Aug 2004 (UTC)
thread_title: some notes on more entries

message: This, despite the tempting, though superficial, paradox that secrecy is of the essence in sending confidential messages — see Kerckhoffs' law.
What does it mean? I have no idea :-) Doesn't seem to be a well formed sentence anyway. Can anyone clear this up? Ambush Commander 20:57, Dec 7, 2004 (UTC)
I make it out to be something like this: If your goal is be secret about what you're doing, the first impulse is to not tell people how you're keeping whatever it is secret. After long and painful experience, the crypto community (a bit of reification there until perhaps the last 25 or 30 years, as there were only practicioners in small bunches here and there employed mostly by governments, plus a few amateurs (Poe perhaps most famous amongst them) and some very optimistic commercial equipment makers; starting with the Diffie-Hellman public discovery of asymmetric crytography ca '76 it all changed and something like a real community emerged ith journals and conferences and ...) came to the realization that the Enemy knowing how you did it wasn't the real issue as a practical matter. Kerckhoff in the 1870s and 75 years later, Shannon, both wrapped this realization into pithy epigrams. 
Hope that helps... ww 21:54, 7 Dec 2004 (UTC)
thread_title:  Sentence in opening statement baffling 

message: I removed Enigma from the fiction list since there was no description, and I sort of remember reading it but only vaguely, i.e. I now find it un-memorable.  This is the one that was partly set at Bletchley Park, right?  IIRC, it used the codebreaking operation as a backdrop but was otherwise just another random suspense/romance novel that didn't have any actual significant cryptographic content.  Cryptonomicon at least had the Solitaire cipher figure into the plot.  Feel free to put Enigma back, but a blurb would be appreciated. Phr (talk) 22:24, 23 July 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: It is indeed rather free as to the facts, but then it's fiction. More fanciful than many... There was a movie mad from it, which was still more fanciful. For that reason alone it should probably be here. I'm just waiting for the Da Vinci code to be added and the discussion that will surely follow. ww 22:35, 23 July 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: I don't understand.  Lots of books were made into movies that aren't "books on cryptography".  Enigma had a character who was a cryptographer, which is maybe a little closer to being "on cryptography", but (as I remember it) had about as much actual cryptography in it as the movie Sneakers.  The Key to Rebecca is fiction but the crypto in it is both quite realistic, and central to the plot.  Phr (talk) 00:00, 24 July 2006 (UTC)

text: Perhaps Rebecca should be added; I've never read it. Enigma was placed at BP IIRC and so is closer than you represent. It's a minor issue really. Not one to cause much effort on anyone's part. Labeled fiction after all. I'd think we ought to spend time reparing cryptography, and I'd do so save for my browser problems. No solution yet. ww 00:50, 24 July 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Yes, Enigma was set in BP but I don't remember it having any contents of cryptographic interest.   With a few adjustments, it could have been set just about anywhere with the cryptographer in some other profession, and still been pretty much the same book.  I'd also like to remove Digital Fortress -- any objections?  I already removed it from Cryptography.  See the Wikipedia article about it if you haven't yet.  Phr (talk) 02:47, 24 July 2006 (UTC)

text: How about if we keep it in this article but omit it from Cryptography?  That's the current situation; I hope it's ok. Phr (talk) 03:09, 26 July 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: That's fine with me. Jaho 22:57, 26 July 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  removed "Enigma" 

message: As I recall, the HoAC is on an undergraduate level.  It certainly assumes some familiarity with mathematical symbols, although it has  a refresher section.
Number Theory and Cryptography by Koblitz is pretty good.  3 of the chapters are elementary, but other parts appear to be grad level.  And Algebraic Aspects of Cryptography by Koblitz, which I am not familiar with.66.217.165.131 03:05, 4 May 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Suggestions 

message: Some lists of books have been added to Wikipedia:Articles for deletion. You can find the discussions here. RockMagnetist (talk) 22:23, 5 October 2011 (UTC)
thread_title:  Alert: lists of publications in Articles for deletion 

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thread_title:  External links modified 

message: I was looking at Lists of books, and I think a more consistent title for this list would be List of books about cryptography. Any opposition to a move? BenKuykendall (talk) 09:00, 19 November 2018 (UTC)
thread_title:  Title 

message: An editor has asked for a discussion to address the redirect Practical Cryptography. Please participate in the redirect discussion if you wish to do so.  LFaraone  13:51, 25 October 2019 (UTC)
thread_title:  "Practical Cryptography" listed at [[Wikipedia:Redirects for discussion|Redirects for discussion]]