Hacking Secret Ciphers with Python: A beginner's guide to cryptography and computer programming with Python 1st Edition

by Al Sweigart (Author)

109 ratings

ISBN-13: 978-1482614374

ISBN-10: 1482614375

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* * * This is the old edition! The new edition is under the title "Cracking Codes with Python" by Al Sweigart * * * Hacking Secret Ciphers with Python not only teaches you how to write in secret ciphers with paper and pencil. This book teaches you how to write your own cipher programs and also the hacking programs that can break the encrypted messages from these ciphers. Unfortunately, the programs in this book won't get the reader in trouble with the law (or rather, fortunately) but it is a guide on the basics of both cryptography and the Python programming language. Instead of presenting a dull laundry list of concepts, this book provides the source code to several fun programming projects for adults and young adults.

Al Sweigart
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About the Author

Albert Sweigart (but you can call him Al), is a software developer in San Francisco, California. He is originally from Houston, Texas. He laughs out loud when watching park squirrels, which makes people think he's a simpleton. His previous books are "Invent Your Own Computer Games with Python" and "Making Games with Python & Pygame".

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Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform; 1st edition (April 14, 2013)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 438 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1482614375
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1482614374
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.9 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7.99 x 0.89 x 10 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #1,629,800 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1,462 in Computer Hacking
- #1,846 in Python Programming
- #3,286 in Introductory & Beginning Programming

Customer Reviews:
109 ratings

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Al Sweigart

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Al Sweigart is a software developer and tech book author living in Houston. He has written several programming books for beginners, including Automate the Boring Stuff with Python. His books are freely available under a Creative Commons license at his website https://inventwithpython.com.

Customer reviews

5 star		62%
4 star		18%
3 star		3%
2 star		6%
1 star		10%

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Walter Anderson

What I would not give to be able to transport this book back in time for my five year old self!

Reviewed in the United States on October 24, 2014

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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.

7 people found this helpful

Helpful

Sinjin

The king of Python teachers

Reviewed in the United States on December 9, 2015

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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.

2 people found this helpful

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L.Bruno

As Good As It Gets!

Reviewed in the United States on June 11, 2018

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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.

Helpful

J.W. Wexford

I like how it basically starts you from scratch with programming

Reviewed in the United States on July 12, 2016

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Even though I've done light programming before and am familiar with the lingo in this book, I like how it basically starts you from scratch with programming; so it doesn't make any assumptions as far as your aptitude goes. I just wanted something that can help me with my own writing. So I can see even at a basic level what cryptography can be done with a common language, and this book does a good job with that.

2 people found this helpful

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G. Antonio

Sky is not even the limit

Reviewed in the United States on April 26, 2020

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Read this book with every possible pattern illustrated by the author referencing gurus from Alan Turing to more complex mathematicians. This book alone can make you an author of complex cipher you can ever imagine.

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turbopro

this is a good niche book

Reviewed in the United States on January 21, 2016

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You'll learn how to program in Python, and, how cryptography works. I'm a geek of sorts, so this may be a niche product. Nonetheless, this is a good niche book. It is well written, I did not observe any coding errors--not that I'm a pro coder, and learning about cryptography while learning Python is cool.

4 people found this helpful

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Dimitry Verkholashin

Lock and No snake on cover? Way to go!

Reviewed in the United States on May 22, 2019

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This is the right book.
Id use this book to teach cryptography to graduate level students
It covers testing to an extent.
Remember everything nowadays is test driven.
Writing tests first helps creating actual product code.

Helpful

Douglas Washabaugh

Well written and engaging book

Reviewed in the United States on August 7, 2015

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Very well written book. I purchased this for my 15 year old niece who had a little programming skills. She is able to work through the book without much help and she has maintained a high level of interest

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Woody

Easy Peasy Python Squeezy

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 2, 2016

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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.

5 people found this helpful

Amazon Customer

Four Stars

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 6, 2018

Verified Purchase

good read

Emilijus

Excellent book

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 21, 2016

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Excellent book for beginners, easy to read and understand. I fully recommend this book to everyone who is interested in python and cryptography.

One person found this helpful

alexandros afentoulis

Excellent Book

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 29, 2013

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This is an excellent book for beginners to get in touch with cryptography and python. I totally suggest it. Learning python becomes interesting this way. What is more part of the income is contributed to Tor and EFF.

4 people found this helpful

Alpha

Best for Beginners

Reviewed in India on October 7, 2017

Verified Purchase

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.

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Hacking Secret Ciphers with Python: A beginner's guide to cryptography and computer programming with Python 1st Edition

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Al Sweigart

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