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Maybe I was not clear. I'm not forcing you to write a book, nor saying you absolutely should. My point is that if people like you, who are definitely more know
by chm 13y ago
Maybe I was not clear. I'm not forcing you to write a book, nor saying you absolutely should.
My point is that if people like you, who are definitely more knowledgable than most in this area (most is very important here), communicate their experience, then everyone benefits. If nobody wants to write about crypto because nobody feels qualified, we're at a dead end.
When a person does write content, someone somewhere will tear it apart, for pretty good reasons: getting it right is very difficult, as you say. But that's precisely the point: to learn from our mistakes. We're not dealing with raw science, but real life implementations of theory, and this is where things usually break, as shown by your critique. The value of the book is pedagogical, not necessarily scientific.
If you have anything to say about crypto (and you clearly do), then say it. We're all the better for it! And contributions like the ones you gave here are needed. I just find the general attitude a little tiring, I'm not trying to force you into writing :)
Lastly, the most important thing, to me, is that I, as a chemist, can get on the internet and learn about these concepts from someone who understands them better than I do. Having a discussion about such topics is essential. Your contribution might not be in the deep theorems of academic cryptography, but they sure are appreciated by others like me. So if you ever want to write a book/pamphlet, go ahead, I'll buy it.
- tptacek 13y agoI understand. I'm making a distinction you don't care about, between books about designing crypto and books about breaking crypto. We're working on a book (it would be more accurate to say that I am cheerleading Sean and Alex on to write a book). It's just not a book that would teach developers how to build crypto.