Old Cryto stuff, (fwd)

[Jim Choate]

Forwarded message:

> From: Jason William RENNIE <jrennie at hardy.ocs.mq.edu.au>
> Date: Thu, 7 Aug 1997 10:53:04 +1000 (EST)
> Subject: Old Cryto stuff, 

> Can anybody suggest any good books on old cryto techniques ?? I'm finally 
> learning to program, along with the stuff i've got to learn as part of 
> the class i thought i would make a start on learning to code 
> crypotgraphic algorithms. I was after some old ones that are simple to 
> code in software. Unfortuently the one in the back of the Schnier book 
> are a little to complex for my limited programming knowledge so far. 
> 
> So can anybody help or will i just be ignored like i have been at other 
> times ? 

Dover makes several very inexpensive reprints of books that have at least
some historical impact.

Cryptanalysis: a study of ciphers and their solution
Helen Fouche' Gaines
ISBN 0-486-20097-3
$4.50

Some topics include:

transposition                              concealment devices
nihilist transposition                     the turning grille
substitution                               consonant-line short cut
miltiple alphabet                          gronsfelt, porta, & beaufort
kasiski method                             vigenere' decryption
periodic number cyphers

includes several frequency tables and other neat stuff in appendixes


Number Theory and It's History
Oystein Ore
isbn 0-486-65620-9
$9.95

Some topics include:

euclids algorism                           prime numbers
aliquot parts                              indeterminate problems
linear indeterminate                       diophantine equations
congruences                                wilson's theorem
eulers theorem                             converse of fermats theorem

Hope it helps.

                                                 Jim Choate