Hacking Secret Ciphers With Python 1St Edition

The author is a proven Python teacher and doesn't disappoint here. So much has already been written in these reviews that I will skip to a few of the things I enjoyed or appreciated:He avoids repeating basic tutorials by incorporating by-chapter specific needs. This is good news if you've already worked through a beginner-level book or two and don't want to pay for the same lessons over and over again.This was the first time fully understand "__main__" despite having it "explained" in other books. Again, Sweigart is a natural teacher.I liked having all the code together at the start of the chapter and then breaking it down block-by-block afterwards. This is different than how most books handle introducing programs, where they dribble it out line by line, and I greatly prefer Sweigart's approach in retrospect.The history of the various ciphers is very interesting and enjoyable. I appreciated being able to learn so much about cryptography as well as Python. If you liked this, I would recommend "Mysterious Messages" by Gary Blackwood. There is no coding involved, but the easily-accessible history of cryptography greatly compliments this book.Finally, this is a gorgeous book, larger than I expected and very well done inside and out. Hard to believe it was self-published.

Interesting book about how Ciphers work. Great introduction and gets very deep.

First, while this book is intended for those without much if any experience with either cryptography or programming it does have some value to those with more experience as well. Most books on beginning cryptography only cover the pre machine era on codes. This book provides one of the best explanations, along with a clean easily understood implementation in actual code of a typical public-private key encryption technique that I have read.On top of that, the book is extremely well done for its intended audience, people without experience with cryptography and/or programming. With no background in either subject this book will take you through the steps to become able to tackle works with greater depth and complexity in either or both subjects. What I would not give to be able to transport this book back in time for my five year old self!Compound the well done nature of the book with the fact that 100% of the proceeds from the sale of the book is donated to the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the Creative Commons, and the Tor project means that one can feel their purchase is supporting worthy causes.

It is difficult to write a clear and easy to understand book on programming for a beginner. It is even more difficult to write a clear and understandable book on cryptography for a beginner. To do both at the same time is nearly impossible, but this author has nailed it. Starting at the beginning in both subjects at the same time, the author gradually takes the reader on a journey that is both fascinating and understandable, building knowledge and confidence in a compelling fashion. Very well done. Highly recommended both for beginning Python programmers and for beginning cryptographers. Well worth the price.

Most authors overlook the fact that simplicity and abstractness can be just as confusing as complexity of you let it (and I often do). The missing explanation of a seemingly simple concept can dramatically interfere with attaining comprehension of main principle. This is compounded by an inability to find the answer in the usual places because nobody able to explain it recognizes it's importance (hence the benefit of live training, where you can ask your "stupid" question And grasp the lesson immediately. Mr. Sweaty uses a project for the lesson, then explains each step as clearly as possible from almost every perspective. Now if he just comes up with an affordable "hotline" to address non-profit questions ( easing the consumer's learning curve while the consumer shows him what other areas of instruction are needed life will be as close to perfect as possible.

This book is not at all what it seems. It is an introductory python book posing as an intermediate cryptography book. The title is misleading. I would title it "Learning python in a cryptographic context." Even that title is misleading, because of the distinction between cryptography and ciphers. One everyone uses, the other ... no one.I am not bitter or angry, but disappointed. For example, everyone who knows python knows that high-performance python is substantially different than python. You're not going to run 512 bit AES CBC with PK5 in a python context! You're going to do it in Java where it takes less than half a second to do. I bought this book thinking that I would learn how to optimize python to the point that it became useful in a cryptographic context. Also, nothing is being "hacked", although he uses that word a ton. He's just referring to brute force decoding.What I got was a reintroduction to python for killing a tree. He actually prints out a coded version of "Romeo and Juliet" as if to say, "I never saw anything so lovely as a tree ... sitting at the bottom of a recycle bin."I am also somewhat alert now to the misleading character of Amazon reviews themselves. Looking at the other reviews for this book, and having read the book itself, I will not so quickly trust the Amazon review system.

A great purchase except that I had to pay an unexpected custom fee at delivery because of the hacking topic of this book.The book is great for novice people; Great for those people interested in the topics. Hence I recommend these people to buy it.It's noteworthy to mention that it revolves around the Python 3.x

alles o.k

Excellent for beginners. This book will help to connect the coding and security. I have no prior experience in coding, after spending money on lot of book this book helped me get into the speed.

un buen libro para iniciarte en la criptografía y si no sabes programar tambien aprenderas, una de las cosas importantes es que hagas los ejercicios

I have a basic knowledge of Python programming and this was really easy to digest and follow. It gives you a good grounding in the basic Python principles, but it doesn't do what a lot of these books do and try to teach you complete Python...this is a Cypher orientated book so if you want a more comprehensive Python education this probably won't do it for you.

This is another excellent book from Al. His other book - Invent Your Own Computer Games with Python - is an excellent way to learn Python. Both books are available as PDF files. So the first question may be "why buy the books?". Well I, for one, enjoy working from an old fashioned book. Another reason is given inside the front cover: "100% of the profits from this book are donated to the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the Creative Commons, and the Tor Project." You may also want to check out the author's website - inventwithpython.com. Al Sweigart is clearly a "good guy"!I have not had time enough yet to work through the whole book but from an initial scan it is marvellous. The whole concept of writing "secret codes" should be very motivating to students of all ages. On the way you will learn how to use Python. No knowledge of Python is required - The book includes details of how to download and install the software. Every step, every programming construct and every line of code, is very clearly explained and there are practice exercises at the end of every chapter.Perhaps I should give the book 5 stars! Perhaps in autumn, when I have had time, to work through the exercises, I will.