The Cryptographic Doom Principle

Re:The Cryptographic Doom Principle by bradleyjg on Tuesday April 14, 2015 @12:47PM (#9375551)

That's good advice, and I've given it myself, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't read and play around with cryptography if it interests you.

I implemented a simplified version of the referenced Vaudenay attack as part of Dan Boneh's Cryptography I course on courseara+. The course was very interesting, and also fun. I'm not ready to go out and implement my own cryptography, but knowing a bit about the subject makes me a more intelligent consumer of crypto libraries.

While warning people away from implementing their own cryptography we have to make sure we don't scare people off from the subject altogether. After all, absolute top experts have to start somewhere.

+ https://www.coursera.org/course/crypto

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:The Cryptographic Doom Principle by classicsnoot on Tuesday April 14, 2015 @02:01PM (#9376117)

Thank you for the link and the review. I start my CS degree in the Fall; i hope i can start and finish this before then.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:The Cryptographic Doom Principle by pmalynin on Tuesday April 14, 2015 @04:50PM (#9377248)

For the love of all that is sacred, take advanced math and linear algebra.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:The Cryptographic Doom Principle by classicsnoot on Wednesday April 15, 2015 @12:24PM (#9382073)

Thank you for the admonition. I am double majoring in CS and Philosophy for a specific reason; i want to manage devs and IT wizzards. I want to function as an informed go between for the sweat stainless white collars and the yellowed white collars that do the work. I love the theoretical space of design and networking, but i have very low expectations of my actual capabilities at the nuts and bolts. I am a [failed] writer and indy movie producer, but i want to be 'part of your world'. I have been trying to self educate, but it is not simple with no mentor. I see uni as a chance to be around people who are smarter than me as well as make time to write the novels and short stories that make me happy. So i am going to start in CS and Philosophy, audit engineering courses and IR courses, then switch majors to whatever seems appropriate. I am a bit older than your typical freshperson, and i am building a trajectory for post-grad, but really i am button mashing like it's StreetFighter. ANy advice is appreciated; i will look into the Maths Degrees.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:The Cryptographic Doom Principle by rcthompson on Tuesday April 14, 2015 @06:51PM (#9377855)

I heartily agree with this sentiment. I have a friend who's a few years older than I am. He majored in CS, and told me in retrospect that he wished he had majored in mathematics instead. I took his advice, and, instead of doing CS major + a few math classes, I did math major + a few CS clases. I am now very glad that I did so. (For context, my friend and I are both data analysts now.)

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:The Cryptographic Doom Principle by pmalynin on Tuesday April 14, 2015 @07:30PM (#9378000)

My comment comes from experience of being in progress of doing an Honors CS - Honors Math double major. After having completed Honors Calculus I/ II, Honors Linear Algebra Imy /II circuits in my first year I felt about 2-3 years ahead in my knowledge of mathematics and associated rigor -- this was especially evident when I was taking combined CS/EE courses and seeing student struggle with concepts that I thought were basic (infinimums, supremums, etc.) but apparently are not covered over the course of 2 years in the regular streams.

[ Parent | on HN ]