Cryptography text?

[Robert L Cromwell]

Hello. A friend of mine is interested in a good text for
the topic of cryptography/cryptanalysis. He has taken some senior
level computer science courses, including some that mentioned
some facets of cryptography, but would like a good text that
starts at the beginning.
I mentioned "Cipher Systens, Protection of Communications",
by Henry Becker and Fred Piper. First of all, is this a good
choice? Secondly, are there any others as well suited or even
better for the purpose?
Thank you.

Bob Cromwell

pur-ee!cromwell

[Bill Hery]

> Hello. A friend of mine is interested in a good text for
> the topic of cryptography/cryptanalysis. He has taken some senior
> level computer science courses, including some that mentioned
> some facets of cryptography, but would like a good text that
> starts at the beginning.

Take a look at 'Cryptography and Data Security' by Dorothy Denning.
It starts at the beginning, goes reasonably deep, and is
very readable.

Bill Hery

[Donald D. Henson]

>
> Hello. A friend of mine is interested in a good text for
> the topic of cryptography/cryptanalysis. He has taken some senior
> level computer science courses, including some that mentioned
> some facets of cryptography, but would like a good text that

I have no info on the text you mentioned, but I have a good one for
the encryption portion of your problem. The text is fairly
mathematical but readable. However, it does not cover cryptanalysis.

Cryptography, A Primer. Alan G. Konheim,
John Wiley & Sons

Hope this helps.

Don Henson, Infosys Consulting

[B.KORT]

I have a text that I would dearly love to have someone
decrypt for me. It is the text to the book "Codex Seraphinianus"
by Luigi Serafini, published by Abbeville Press. (I obtained my
copy through the Barnes & Noble mail-order catalog.) The script
is in longhand, so it would not be practical to use computer-mediated
decryption. (Also, the character set is a bit weird.)
--Barry Kort