Open Workbook of Cryptology: A project-based introduction to crypto in Python

Abstract

The problem with crypto (as we shall call cryptology in this book) is that it has a reputation of being very hard and mysterious, as well as very easy to get wrong. While there are aspects of crypto that are connected to quite modern and complex theories – such as number theory, an old and deep branch of mathematics; complexity theory, a new(er) and subtle branch of computer science; and even quantum computation, a quite new wrinkle on a 100 year-old version of physics which is famously counter-intuitive – that are not particularly friendly to the novice, much of the over-all framing of crypto is perfectly easy to comprehend and to use.