A useful quick primer, 10 Jun 2008
Schaum's Outlines are never going to be classics, but they are sound, inexpensive and good value. Despite having an extensive library of other mathematics texts, I often come back to Schaum's for the worked-out solutions of problems.

In my work I often meet software engineers who started out in other disciplines and have had very little exposure to the parts of discrete mathematics that are useful in software engineering. I normally suggest that they use this Schaum's Outline of Discrete Mathematics as a quick primer. So far there have been no complaints!

A useful quick primer, 10 Jun 2008
Schaum's Outlines are never going to be classics, but they are sound, inexpensive and good value. Despite having an extensive library of other mathematics texts, I often come back to Schaum's for the worked-out solutions of problems.

In my work I often meet software engineers who started out in other disciplines and have had very little exposure to the parts of discrete mathematics that are useful in software engineering. I normally suggest that they use this Schaum's Outline of Discrete Mathematics as a quick primer. So far there have been no complaints!



A pleasant read, 22 Aug 2007
I read this book whilst on holiday (had my laptop with me, but managed not to turn it on).

The first part is a gentle intoduction to algorithms. There's little or no mathematics, but the concepts are well covered. The second part is the catalog, which seemed to live up to its name.

This is a must for programmers, 29 Jun 1999
This book is very well organized. It really helps identifying and solving problems. Highly recommended.

The hitch-hiker's guide to Algorithms., 28 Jul 1998
The Catalog was my main reason for buying the book. It's an invaluable reference base for people whose boss 'needs an answer by tomorrow'.

+ : The War Stories are fun reading, and do a good job of explaining how theory relates to practice. - : Restating the obvious at times, while deliberately vague elsewhere. Net : if you use a greedy heuristic to select your reading, this book probably comes ahead of the pack.

Quite a useful repository of algorithms, 06 May 1998
This book has some excellent information about writing and selecting algorithms, step by step, as well as plenty of pointers to outside information. Chapter 8 in particular is an invaluable reference for quickly implementing a solution to any of many varied problems.

However, the textual explanations are sometimes confusing, with significant "jumps" between concepts that could throw off the beginning algorist. Furthermore, the author discounts entire paradigms of computer programming, giving the text a biased and unbalanced feel.

Review from co-developer of the CD-ROM and website, 07 Oct 1997
As an unbiased reviewer :^) I feel that this is the most useful algorithms text written for the real-world algorist. The CD-ROM contains a wealth of information (including the entire repository of implementations found on the affiliated website, and hours of audio lectures from the author's own algorithms course). The catalog of algorithms is also invaluable.

A useful quick primer, 10 Jun 2008
Schaum's Outlines are never going to be classics, but they are sound, inexpensive and good value. Despite having an extensive library of other mathematics texts, I often come back to Schaum's for the worked-out solutions of problems.

In my work I often meet software engineers who started out in other disciplines and have had very little exposure to the parts of discrete mathematics that are useful in software engineering. I normally suggest that they use this Schaum's Outline of Discrete Mathematics as a quick primer. So far there have been no complaints!



A pleasant read, 22 Aug 2007
I read this book whilst on holiday (had my laptop with me, but managed not to turn it on).

The first part is a gentle intoduction to algorithms. There's little or no mathematics, but the concepts are well covered. The second part is the catalog, which seemed to live up to its name.

This is a must for programmers, 29 Jun 1999
This book is very well organized. It really helps identifying and solving problems. Highly recommended.

The hitch-hiker's guide to Algorithms., 28 Jul 1998
The Catalog was my main reason for buying the book. It's an invaluable reference base for people whose boss 'needs an answer by tomorrow'.

+ : The War Stories are fun reading, and do a good job of explaining how theory relates to practice. - : Restating the obvious at times, while deliberately vague elsewhere. Net : if you use a greedy heuristic to select your reading, this book probably comes ahead of the pack.

Quite a useful repository of algorithms, 06 May 1998
This book has some excellent information about writing and selecting algorithms, step by step, as well as plenty of pointers to outside information. Chapter 8 in particular is an invaluable reference for quickly implementing a solution to any of many varied problems.

However, the textual explanations are sometimes confusing, with significant "jumps" between concepts that could throw off the beginning algorist. Furthermore, the author discounts entire paradigms of computer programming, giving the text a biased and unbalanced feel.

Review from co-developer of the CD-ROM and website, 07 Oct 1997
As an unbiased reviewer :^) I feel that this is the most useful algorithms text written for the real-world algorist. The CD-ROM contains a wealth of information (including the entire repository of implementations found on the affiliated website, and hours of audio lectures from the author's own algorithms course). The catalog of algorithms is also invaluable.

Soon time for third edition?, 21 Feb 2007
The book is not for the average reader, you must be proficient with code and have a basic grasp of the math behind public key cryptography. The author is doing an excellent job at tryng to explain and simplify, so for the experienced coder it should be a fairly easy read.
The collection of algorithms is impressive and the analysis of them is thorough. Since quite a few were added between the first edition and second, I cannot but help thinking a third edition should be due soon.
I'd say this is good value for the money and a must have for anyone thinking of doing any coding related to (public key and other) cryptography.

Best in the field, 07 Aug 2004
This book is an excellent, in-depth guide to cryptography. It is an excellent starting point for a beginner, and is not stuffed with filler pages like so many technical books these days. It includes especially clear coverage of public-key cryptography, and the source code is a welcome bonus.

The only qualms I had was that despite advertising "Protocols, Algorithms and Source Code in C" the book includes only source code right at the very end, to a handful of encryption algorithms. Also, it does not discuss the AES, which I would have liked.

Nonetheless, an excellent books - a necessity for anyone interested in cryptography.

Highly recommended., 29 Apr 2003
I read this book from cover to cover while on holiday. I was astonished at the number of ways ways in which cryptography can be applied. The maths is kept to a minimum, which suited me, and the concepts were ably covered despite this. I would almost describe this as an exciting read!

not a bad book, 21 Mar 2002
The book is well structured, but very difficult, you have to have a lot of background maths before you can understand it, i am studying at university, but i am finding it hard to keep up with the book, yet i would recomend it because it has some aspects in it which are easy to understand

concentrates on unimportant and uninteresting information, 14 Aug 2001
The book is too full of useless garbage. The information is also often presented in an over complicated manner.

A useful quick primer, 10 Jun 2008
Schaum's Outlines are never going to be classics, but they are sound, inexpensive and good value. Despite having an extensive library of other mathematics texts, I often come back to Schaum's for the worked-out solutions of problems.

In my work I often meet software engineers who started out in other disciplines and have had very little exposure to the parts of discrete mathematics that are useful in software engineering. I normally suggest that they use this Schaum's Outline of Discrete Mathematics as a quick primer. So far there have been no complaints!



A pleasant read, 22 Aug 2007
I read this book whilst on holiday (had my laptop with me, but managed not to turn it on).

The first part is a gentle intoduction to algorithms. There's little or no mathematics, but the concepts are well covered. The second part is the catalog, which seemed to live up to its name.

This is a must for programmers, 29 Jun 1999
This book is very well organized. It really helps identifying and solving problems. Highly recommended.

The hitch-hiker's guide to Algorithms., 28 Jul 1998
The Catalog was my main reason for buying the book. It's an invaluable reference base for people whose boss 'needs an answer by tomorrow'.

+ : The War Stories are fun reading, and do a good job of explaining how theory relates to practice. - : Restating the obvious at times, while deliberately vague elsewhere. Net : if you use a greedy heuristic to select your reading, this book probably comes ahead of the pack.

Quite a useful repository of algorithms, 06 May 1998
This book has some excellent information about writing and selecting algorithms, step by step, as well as plenty of pointers to outside information. Chapter 8 in particular is an invaluable reference for quickly implementing a solution to any of many varied problems.

However, the textual explanations are sometimes confusing, with significant "jumps" between concepts that could throw off the beginning algorist. Furthermore, the author discounts entire paradigms of computer programming, giving the text a biased and unbalanced feel.

Review from co-developer of the CD-ROM and website, 07 Oct 1997
As an unbiased reviewer :^) I feel that this is the most useful algorithms text written for the real-world algorist. The CD-ROM contains a wealth of information (including the entire repository of implementations found on the affiliated website, and hours of audio lectures from the author's own algorithms course). The catalog of algorithms is also invaluable.

Soon time for third edition?, 21 Feb 2007
The book is not for the average reader, you must be proficient with code and have a basic grasp of the math behind public key cryptography. The author is doing an excellent job at tryng to explain and simplify, so for the experienced coder it should be a fairly easy read.
The collection of algorithms is impressive and the analysis of them is thorough. Since quite a few were added between the first edition and second, I cannot but help thinking a third edition should be due soon.
I'd say this is good value for the money and a must have for anyone thinking of doing any coding related to (public key and other) cryptography.

Best in the field, 07 Aug 2004
This book is an excellent, in-depth guide to cryptography. It is an excellent starting point for a beginner, and is not stuffed with filler pages like so many technical books these days. It includes especially clear coverage of public-key cryptography, and the source code is a welcome bonus.

The only qualms I had was that despite advertising "Protocols, Algorithms and Source Code in C" the book includes only source code right at the very end, to a handful of encryption algorithms. Also, it does not discuss the AES, which I would have liked.

Nonetheless, an excellent books - a necessity for anyone interested in cryptography.

Highly recommended., 29 Apr 2003
I read this book from cover to cover while on holiday. I was astonished at the number of ways ways in which cryptography can be applied. The maths is kept to a minimum, which suited me, and the concepts were ably covered despite this. I would almost describe this as an exciting read!

not a bad book, 21 Mar 2002
The book is well structured, but very difficult, you have to have a lot of background maths before you can understand it, i am studying at university, but i am finding it hard to keep up with the book, yet i would recomend it because it has some aspects in it which are easy to understand

concentrates on unimportant and uninteresting information, 14 Aug 2001
The book is too full of useless garbage. The information is also often presented in an over complicated manner.

I wouldn't use this as my primary book, 27 May 2008
I felt the first few chapters were really geared towards newcomers to 2D/3D Maths and so every topic in the earlier chapters were covered very slowly and in detail. However, as I progressed through the chapters I noticed the authors had started accelerating through the topics at a quicker pace and I was left somewhat confused and so I had to research many of the topics from other resources.

One thing I really didn't like about the book was that the exercises were left to be done at the end of each chapter. The problem with this approach was that some chapters expanded across many pages packed with information you needed to know and thus, like a traditional maths book I would have liked to practice a few questions after each topic and not after a whole chapter.

Not sure who would find this useful, 21 Apr 2008
Sure the book starts off with really really simple maths, using 1d and 2d maths for a springboard. It slowly eases into vector and matrix maths, all described fairly run of the mill. So far so good.

Reading further on into geometric principles and intersections it becomes apparent that the author seems to have forgotten all about the first half of the book and is quickly rambling on using terms and symbols not previously referred to and thus will more than likely lose anyone without a mathematics degree.

Most of the articles here are locatable on the internet if you know how to use a search engine, and described in a much more user friendly way.

3D Maths for mathematicians, 21 Aug 2007
I bought this book thinking it would explain 3D maths to me, a programmer, but instead found it better suited to mathematicians who want to understand vectors and matrices.
There is virtually no pseudocode in the book, and only around 50 pages out of 400 cover 3D graphics in practice, and then in little depth.
The only people who will get anything from this book are people with a degree in Computer Science (and they will probably know 3D maths already).



Highly recommended, 28 Apr 2005
I love this book, and it has payed off very well for me.
The author has a remarkable skill to explain even the most difficult subjects in a way that everyone understands. For example, The Cartesian coordinate system is abstracted to a system of roads.
However, this simplification is not an issue for intermediate/advanced programmers or math students. All topics are provided with formulas and concise material; making this book good for everyone.
Topics covered (but not limited to) vectors, coordination systems, dot-product, cross-product, quaternions, matrices, Auler-angles, bsp-trees, screen projection, culling, bounding-boxes (and a load of other intersection tests).

Still I missed something. The author(s) also covers gourad shading, texture mapping and several other techniques, but they don't go into depth. Different lighting models were given a formula at best, which fortunately is good enough for me. Just don't expect the book to be API-specific or contain information about rendering methods.
The source code which came with the book compiled, but looks awful and very messy. The source code works very well as a reference, but it you are buying the book mainly for the code; don't. I hope they'll update their source code from the webpage soon.

Conclusion: This is a very good book to start with. It contains all the linear algebra math you'll need to start with 3D-programming, and is explained remarkably well. Yet the simplification is nevertheless no con for non-beginners, which will probably use this book as a reference laying on their desktop at all times :-)

Exceptionally good book, 25 Feb 2004
The authors of this book is a game programmer and a professor of Computer Science. This team is excellent!

The game programmer has alot of focus on making the material understandable, and the professor has focus on the mathematically correct semantics. Unlike other books, that teaches game programming (of which many have an author with his strength on either field), this book has the right blend of understandable text parred with the right mathematical semantics.

Furthermore the text is supported by code, so if you are shaky on some of the math, you can see the implementation in C++ code.

As a total math newbie, this book helped me alot, and today I understand totally and in detail what is going on in my 3D programming.

An ABSOLUTE MUST, if you want to learn 3D on top level.

A useful quick primer, 10 Jun 2008
Schaum's Outlines are never going to be classics, but they are sound, inexpensive and good value. Despite having an extensive library of other mathematics texts, I often come back to Schaum's for the worked-out solutions of problems.

In my work I often meet software engineers who started out in other disciplines and have had very little exposure to the parts of discrete mathematics that are useful in software engineering. I normally suggest that they use this Schaum's Outline of Discrete Mathematics as a quick primer. So far there have been no complaints!



A pleasant read, 22 Aug 2007
I read this book whilst on holiday (had my laptop with me, but managed not to turn it on).

The first part is a gentle intoduction to algorithms. There's little or no mathematics, but the concepts are well covered. The second part is the catalog, which seemed to live up to its name.

This is a must for programmers, 29 Jun 1999
This book is very well organized. It really helps identifying and solving problems. Highly recommended.

The hitch-hiker's guide to Algorithms., 28 Jul 1998
The Catalog was my main reason for buying the book. It's an invaluable reference base for people whose boss 'needs an answer by tomorrow'.

+ : The War Stories are fun reading, and do a good job of explaining how theory relates to practice. - : Restating the obvious at times, while deliberately vague elsewhere. Net : if you use a greedy heuristic to select your reading, this book probably comes ahead of the pack.

Quite a useful repository of algorithms, 06 May 1998
This book has some excellent information about writing and selecting algorithms, step by step, as well as plenty of pointers to outside information. Chapter 8 in particular is an invaluable reference for quickly implementing a solution to any of many varied problems.

However, the textual explanations are sometimes confusing, with significant "jumps" between concepts that could throw off the beginning algorist. Furthermore, the author discounts entire paradigms of computer programming, giving the text a biased and unbalanced feel.

Review from co-developer of the CD-ROM and website, 07 Oct 1997
As an unbiased reviewer :^) I feel that this is the most useful algorithms text written for the real-world algorist. The CD-ROM contains a wealth of information (including the entire repository of implementations found on the affiliated website, and hours of audio lectures from the author's own algorithms course). The catalog of algorithms is also invaluable.

Soon time for third edition?, 21 Feb 2007
The book is not for the average reader, you must be proficient with code and have a basic grasp of the math behind public key cryptography. The author is doing an excellent job at tryng to explain and simplify, so for the experienced coder it should be a fairly easy read.
The collection of algorithms is impressive and the analysis of them is thorough. Since quite a few were added between the first edition and second, I cannot but help thinking a third edition should be due soon.
I'd say this is good value for the money and a must have for anyone thinking of doing any coding related to (public key and other) cryptography.

Best in the field, 07 Aug 2004
This book is an excellent, in-depth guide to cryptography. It is an excellent starting point for a beginner, and is not stuffed with filler pages like so many technical books these days. It includes especially clear coverage of public-key cryptography, and the source code is a welcome bonus.

The only qualms I had was that despite advertising "Protocols, Algorithms and Source Code in C" the book includes only source code right at the very end, to a handful of encryption algorithms. Also, it does not discuss the AES, which I would have liked.

Nonetheless, an excellent books - a necessity for anyone interested in cryptography.

Highly recommended., 29 Apr 2003
I read this book from cover to cover while on holiday. I was astonished at the number of ways ways in which cryptography can be applied. The maths is kept to a minimum, which suited me, and the concepts were ably covered despite this. I would almost describe this as an exciting read!

not a bad book, 21 Mar 2002
The book is well structured, but very difficult, you have to have a lot of background maths before you can understand it, i am studying at university, but i am finding it hard to keep up with the book, yet i would recomend it because it has some aspects in it which are easy to understand

concentrates on unimportant and uninteresting information, 14 Aug 2001
The book is too full of useless garbage. The information is also often presented in an over complicated manner.

I wouldn't use this as my primary book, 27 May 2008
I felt the first few chapters were really geared towards newcomers to 2D/3D Maths and so every topic in the earlier chapters were covered very slowly and in detail. However, as I progressed through the chapters I noticed the authors had started accelerating through the topics at a quicker pace and I was left somewhat confused and so I had to research many of the topics from other resources.

One thing I really didn't like about the book was that the exercises were left to be done at the end of each chapter. The problem with this approach was that some chapters expanded across many pages packed with information you needed to know and thus, like a traditional maths book I would have liked to practice a few questions after each topic and not after a whole chapter.

Not sure who would find this useful, 21 Apr 2008
Sure the book starts off with really really simple maths, using 1d and 2d maths for a springboard. It slowly eases into vector and matrix maths, all described fairly run of the mill. So far so good.

Reading further on into geometric principles and intersections it becomes apparent that the author seems to have forgotten all about the first half of the book and is quickly rambling on using terms and symbols not previously referred to and thus will more than likely lose anyone without a mathematics degree.

Most of the articles here are locatable on the internet if you know how to use a search engine, and described in a much more user friendly way.

3D Maths for mathematicians, 21 Aug 2007
I bought this book thinking it would explain 3D maths to me, a programmer, but instead found it better suited to mathematicians who want to understand vectors and matrices.
There is virtually no pseudocode in the book, and only around 50 pages out of 400 cover 3D graphics in practice, and then in little depth.
The only people who will get anything from this book are people with a degree in Computer Science (and they will probably know 3D maths already).



Highly recommended, 28 Apr 2005
I love this book, and it has payed off very well for me.
The author has a remarkable skill to explain even the most difficult subjects in a way that everyone understands. For example, The Cartesian coordinate system is abstracted to a system of roads.
However, this simplification is not an issue for intermediate/advanced programmers or math students. All topics are provided with formulas and concise material; making this book good for everyone.
Topics covered (but not limited to) vectors, coordination systems, dot-product, cross-product, quaternions, matrices, Auler-angles, bsp-trees, screen projection, culling, bounding-boxes (and a load of other intersection tests).

Still I missed something. The author(s) also covers gourad shading, texture mapping and several other techniques, but they don't go into depth. Different lighting models were given a formula at best, which fortunately is good enough for me. Just don't expect the book to be API-specific or contain information about rendering methods.
The source code which came with the book compiled, but looks awful and very messy. The source code works very well as a reference, but it you are buying the book mainly for the code; don't. I hope they'll update their source code from the webpage soon.

Conclusion: This is a very good book to start with. It contains all the linear algebra math you'll need to start with 3D-programming, and is explained remarkably well. Yet the simplification is nevertheless no con for non-beginners, which will probably use this book as a reference laying on their desktop at all times :-)

Exceptionally good book, 25 Feb 2004
The authors of this book is a game programmer and a professor of Computer Science. This team is excellent!

The game programmer has alot of focus on making the material understandable, and the professor has focus on the mathematically correct semantics. Unlike other books, that teaches game programming (of which many have an author with his strength on either field), this book has the right blend of understandable text parred with the right mathematical semantics.

Furthermore the text is supported by code, so if you are shaky on some of the math, you can see the implementation in C++ code.

As a total math newbie, this book helped me alot, and today I understand totally and in detail what is going on in my 3D programming.

An ABSOLUTE MUST, if you want to learn 3D on top level.

very well written, 03 Dec 2001
This book is very well written. I had already covered the first 4 chapters within 20 minutes...The language is simple and straightforward to understand, although you do have to concentrate and try to understand the concepts, coz you'll get lost otherwise. All in all, i recommend this book !

A useful quick primer, 10 Jun 2008
Schaum's Outlines are never going to be classics, but they are sound, inexpensive and good value. Despite having an extensive library of other mathematics texts, I often come back to Schaum's for the worked-out solutions of problems.

In my work I often meet software engineers who started out in other disciplines and have had very little exposure to the parts of discrete mathematics that are useful in software engineering. I normally suggest that they use this Schaum's Outline of Discrete Mathematics as a quick primer. So far there have been no complaints!



A pleasant read, 22 Aug 2007
I read this book whilst on holiday (had my laptop with me, but managed not to turn it on).

The first part is a gentle intoduction to algorithms. There's little or no mathematics, but the concepts are well covered. The second part is the catalog, which seemed to live up to its name.

This is a must for programmers, 29 Jun 1999
This book is very well organized. It really helps identifying and solving problems. Highly recommended.

The hitch-hiker's guide to Algorithms., 28 Jul 1998
The Catalog was my main reason for buying the book. It's an invaluable reference base for people whose boss 'needs an answer by tomorrow'.

+ : The War Stories are fun reading, and do a good job of explaining how theory relates to practice. - : Restating the obvious at times, while deliberately vague elsewhere. Net : if you use a greedy heuristic to select your reading, this book probably comes ahead of the pack.

Quite a useful repository of algorithms, 06 May 1998
This book has some excellent information about writing and selecting algorithms, step by step, as well as plenty of pointers to outside information. Chapter 8 in particular is an invaluable reference for quickly implementing a solution to any of many varied problems.

However, the textual explanations are sometimes confusing, with significant "jumps" between concepts that could throw off the beginning algorist. Furthermore, the author discounts entire paradigms of computer programming, giving the text a biased and unbalanced feel.

Review from co-developer of the CD-ROM and website, 07 Oct 1997
As an unbiased reviewer :^) I feel that this is the most useful algorithms text written for the real-world algorist. The CD-ROM contains a wealth of information (including the entire repository of implementations found on the affiliated website, and hours of audio lectures from the author's own algorithms course). The catalog of algorithms is also invaluable.

Soon time for third edition?, 21 Feb 2007
The book is not for the average reader, you must be proficient with code and have a basic grasp of the math behind public key cryptography. The author is doing an excellent job at tryng to explain and simplify, so for the experienced coder it should be a fairly easy read.
The collection of algorithms is impressive and the analysis of them is thorough. Since quite a few were added between the first edition and second, I cannot but help thinking a third edition should be due soon.
I'd say this is good value for the money and a must have for anyone thinking of doing any coding related to (public key and other) cryptography.

Best in the field, 07 Aug 2004
This book is an excellent, in-depth guide to cryptography. It is an excellent starting point for a beginner, and is not stuffed with filler pages like so many technical books these days. It includes especially clear coverage of public-key cryptography, and the source code is a welcome bonus.

The only qualms I had was that despite advertising "Protocols, Algorithms and Source Code in C" the book includes only source code right at the very end, to a handful of encryption algorithms. Also, it does not discuss the AES, which I would have liked.

Nonetheless, an excellent books - a necessity for anyone interested in cryptography.

Highly recommended., 29 Apr 2003
I read this book from cover to cover while on holiday. I was astonished at the number of ways ways in which cryptography can be applied. The maths is kept to a minimum, which suited me, and the concepts were ably covered despite this. I would almost describe this as an exciting read!

not a bad book, 21 Mar 2002
The book is well structured, but very difficult, you have to have a lot of background maths before you can understand it, i am studying at university, but i am finding it hard to keep up with the book, yet i would recomend it because it has some aspects in it which are easy to understand

concentrates on unimportant and uninteresting information, 14 Aug 2001
The book is too full of useless garbage. The information is also often presented in an over complicated manner.

I wouldn't use this as my primary book, 27 May 2008
I felt the first few chapters were really geared towards newcomers to 2D/3D Maths and so every topic in the earlier chapters were covered very slowly and in detail. However, as I progressed through the chapters I noticed the authors had started accelerating through the topics at a quicker pace and I was left somewhat confused and so I had to research many of the topics from other resources.

One thing I really didn't like about the book was that the exercises were left to be done at the end of each chapter. The problem with this approach was that some chapters expanded across many pages packed with information you needed to know and thus, like a traditional maths book I would have liked to practice a few questions after each topic and not after a whole chapter.

Not sure who would find this useful, 21 Apr 2008
Sure the book starts off with really really simple maths, using 1d and 2d maths for a springboard. It slowly eases into vector and matrix maths, all described fairly run of the mill. So far so good.

Reading further on into geometric principles and intersections it becomes apparent that the author seems to have forgotten all about the first half of the book and is quickly rambling on using terms and symbols not previously referred to and thus will more than likely lose anyone without a mathematics degree.

Most of the articles here are locatable on the internet if you know how to use a search engine, and described in a much more user friendly way.

3D Maths for mathematicians, 21 Aug 2007
I bought this book thinking it would explain 3D maths to me, a programmer, but instead found it better suited to mathematicians who want to understand vectors and matrices.
There is virtually no pseudocode in the book, and only around 50 pages out of 400 cover 3D graphics in practice, and then in little depth.
The only people who will get anything from this book are people with a degree in Computer Science (and they will probably know 3D maths already).



Highly recommended, 28 Apr 2005
I love this book, and it has payed off very well for me.
The author has a remarkable skill to explain even the most difficult subjects in a way that everyone understands. For example, The Cartesian coordinate system is abstracted to a system of roads.
However, this simplification is not an issue for intermediate/advanced programmers or math students. All topics are provided with formulas and concise material; making this book good for everyone.
Topics covered (but not limited to) vectors, coordination systems, dot-product, cross-product, quaternions, matrices, Auler-angles, bsp-trees, screen projection, culling, bounding-boxes (and a load of other intersection tests).

Still I missed something. The author(s) also covers gourad shading, texture mapping and several other techniques, but they don't go into depth. Different lighting models were given a formula at best, which fortunately is good enough for me. Just don't expect the book to be API-specific or contain information about rendering methods.
The source code which came with the book compiled, but looks awful and very messy. The source code works very well as a reference, but it you are buying the book mainly for the code; don't. I hope they'll update their source code from the webpage soon.

Conclusion: This is a very good book to start with. It contains all the linear algebra math you'll need to start with 3D-programming, and is explained remarkably well. Yet the simplification is nevertheless no con for non-beginners, which will probably use this book as a reference laying on their desktop at all times :-)

Exceptionally good book, 25 Feb 2004
The authors of this book is a game programmer and a professor of Computer Science. This team is excellent!

The game programmer has alot of focus on making the material understandable, and the professor has focus on the mathematically correct semantics. Unlike other books, that teaches game programming (of which many have an author with his strength on either field), this book has the right blend of understandable text parred with the right mathematical semantics.

Furthermore the text is supported by code, so if you are shaky on some of the math, you can see the implementation in C++ code.

As a total math newbie, this book helped me alot, and today I understand totally and in detail what is going on in my 3D programming.

An ABSOLUTE MUST, if you want to learn 3D on top level.

very well written, 03 Dec 2001
This book is very well written. I had already covered the first 4 chapters within 20 minutes...The language is simple and straightforward to understand, although you do have to concentrate and try to understand the concepts, coz you'll get lost otherwise. All in all, i recommend this book !

good stuff, 14 Aug 1999
A good book which does NOT cover all the aspects of discreet mathematics, such as Abstract Algebra, Predicate Calculus. Otherwise it is well done. It is very good stuff indeed.

So good it makes me want to sing: "Your rhymes are ridiculous, mine are meticulous, prepared with Algebra, trigonometry, logic and Calculus"

A useful quick primer, 10 Jun 2008
Schaum's Outlines are never going to be classics, but they are sound, inexpensive and good value. Despite having an extensive library of other mathematics texts, I often come back to Schaum's for the worked-out solutions of problems.

In my work I often meet software engineers who started out in other disciplines and have had very little exposure to the parts of discrete mathematics that are useful in software engineering. I normally suggest that they use this Schaum's Outline of Discrete Mathematics as a quick primer. So far there have been no complaints!



A pleasant read, 22 Aug 2007
I read this book whilst on holiday (had my laptop with me, but managed not to turn it on).

The first part is a gentle intoduction to algorithms. There's little or no mathematics, but the concepts are well covered. The second part is the catalog, which seemed to live up to its name.

This is a must for programmers, 29 Jun 1999
This book is very well organized. It really helps identifying and solving problems. Highly recommended.

The hitch-hiker's guide to Algorithms., 28 Jul 1998
The Catalog was my main reason for buying the book. It's an invaluable reference base for people whose boss 'needs an answer by tomorrow'.

+ : The War Stories are fun reading, and do a good job of explaining how theory relates to practice. - : Restating the obvious at times, while deliberately vague elsewhere. Net : if you use a greedy heuristic to select your reading, this book probably comes ahead of the pack.

Quite a useful repository of algorithms, 06 May 1998
This book has some excellent information about writing and selecting algorithms, step by step, as well as plenty of pointers to outside information. Chapter 8 in particular is an invaluable reference for quickly implementing a solution to any of many varied problems.

However, the textual explanations are sometimes confusing, with significant "jumps" between concepts that could throw off the beginning algorist. Furthermore, the author discounts entire paradigms of computer programming, giving the text a biased and unbalanced feel.

Review from co-developer of the CD-ROM and website, 07 Oct 1997
As an unbiased reviewer :^) I feel that this is the most useful algorithms text written for the real-world algorist. The CD-ROM contains a wealth of information (including the entire repository of implementations found on the affiliated website, and hours of audio lectures from the author's own algorithms course). The catalog of algorithms is also invaluable.

Soon time for third edition?, 21 Feb 2007
The book is not for the average reader, you must be proficient with code and have a basic grasp of the math behind public key cryptography. The author is doing an excellent job at tryng to explain and simplify, so for the experienced coder it should be a fairly easy read.
The collection of algorithms is impressive and the analysis of them is thorough. Since quite a few were added between the first edition and second, I cannot but help thinking a third edition should be due soon.
I'd say this is good value for the money and a must have for anyone thinking of doing any coding related to (public key and other) cryptography.

Best in the field, 07 Aug 2004
This book is an excellent, in-depth guide to cryptography. It is an excellent starting point for a beginner, and is not stuffed with filler pages like so many technical books these days. It includes especially clear coverage of public-key cryptography, and the source code is a welcome bonus.

The only qualms I had was that despite advertising "Protocols, Algorithms and Source Code in C" the book includes only source code right at the very end, to a handful of encryption algorithms. Also, it does not discuss the AES, which I would have liked.

Nonetheless, an excellent books - a necessity for anyone interested in cryptography.

Highly recommended., 29 Apr 2003
I read this book from cover to cover while on holiday. I was astonished at the number of ways ways in which cryptography can be applied. The maths is kept to a minimum, which suited me, and the concepts were ably covered despite this. I would almost describe this as an exciting read!

not a bad book, 21 Mar 2002
The book is well structured, but very difficult, you have to have a lot of background maths before you can understand it, i am studying at university, but i am finding it hard to keep up with the book, yet i would recomend it because it has some aspects in it which are easy to understand

concentrates on unimportant and uninteresting information, 14 Aug 2001
The book is too full of useless garbage. The information is also often presented in an over complicated manner.

I wouldn't use this as my primary book, 27 May 2008
I felt the first few chapters were really geared towards newcomers to 2D/3D Maths and so every topic in the earlier chapters were covered very slowly and in detail. However, as I progressed through the chapters I noticed the authors had started accelerating through the topics at a quicker pace and I was left somewhat confused and so I had to research many of the topics from other resources.

One thing I really didn't like about the book was that the exercises were left to be done at the end of each chapter. The problem with this approach was that some chapters expanded across many pages packed with information you needed to know and thus, like a traditional maths book I would have liked to practice a few questions after each topic and not after a whole chapter.

Not sure who would find this useful, 21 Apr 2008
Sure the book starts off with really really simple maths, using 1d and 2d maths for a springboard. It slowly eases into vector and matrix maths, all described fairly run of the mill. So far so good.

Reading further on into geometric principles and intersections it becomes apparent that the author seems to have forgotten all about the first half of the book and is quickly rambling on using terms and symbols not previously referred to and thus will more than likely lose anyone without a mathematics degree.

Most of the articles here are locatable on the internet if you know how to use a search engine, and described in a much more user friendly way.

3D Maths for mathematicians, 21 Aug 2007
I bought this book thinking it would explain 3D maths to me, a programmer, but instead found it better suited to mathematicians who want to understand vectors and matrices.
There is virtually no pseudocode in the book, and only around 50 pages out of 400 cover 3D graphics in practice, and then in little depth.
The only people who will get anything from this book are people with a degree in Computer Science (and they will probably know 3D maths already).



Highly recommended, 28 Apr 2005
I love this book, and it has payed off very well for me.
The author has a remarkable skill to explain even the most difficult subjects in a way that everyone understands. For example, The Cartesian coordinate system is abstracted to a system of roads.
However, this simplification is not an issue for intermediate/advanced programmers or math students. All topics are provided with formulas and concise material; making this book good for everyone.
Topics covered (but not limited to) vectors, coordination systems, dot-product, cross-product, quaternions, matrices, Auler-angles, bsp-trees, screen projection, culling, bounding-boxes (and a load of other intersection tests).

Still I missed something. The author(s) also covers gourad shading, texture mapping and several other techniques, but they don't go into depth. Different lighting models were given a formula at best, which fortunately is good enough for me. Just don't expect the book to be API-specific or contain information about rendering methods.
The source code which came with the book compiled, but looks awful and very messy. The source code works very well as a reference, but it you are buying the book mainly for the code; don't. I hope they'll update their source code from the webpage soon.

Conclusion: This is a very good book to start with. It contains all the linear algebra math you'll need to start with 3D-programming, and is explained remarkably well. Yet the simplification is nevertheless no con for non-beginners, which will probably use this book as a reference laying on their desktop at all times :-)

Exceptionally good book, 25 Feb 2004
The authors of this book is a game programmer and a professor of Computer Science. This team is excellent!

The game programmer has alot of focus on making the material understandable, and the professor has focus on the mathematically correct semantics. Unlike other books, that teaches game programming (of which many have an author with his strength on either field), this book has the right blend of understandable text parred with the right mathematical semantics.

Furthermore the text is supported by code, so if you are shaky on some of the math, you can see the implementation in C++ code.

As a total math newbie, this book helped me alot, and today I understand totally and in detail what is going on in my 3D programming.

An ABSOLUTE MUST, if you want to learn 3D on top level.

very well written, 03 Dec 2001
This book is very well written. I had already covered the first 4 chapters within 20 minutes...The language is simple and straightforward to understand, although you do have to concentrate and try to understand the concepts, coz you'll get lost otherwise. All in all, i recommend this book !

good stuff, 14 Aug 1999
A good book which does NOT cover all the aspects of discreet mathematics, such as Abstract Algebra, Predicate Calculus. Otherwise it is well done. It is very good stuff indeed.

So good it makes me want to sing: "Your rhymes are ridiculous, mine are meticulous, prepared with Algebra, trigonometry, logic and Calculus"

Excellent reference indeed, 25 Jan 2003
If you're going to work in the area of Cryptography, you can't afford
to neglect this book.

We used this in a course, and even though it's a handbook, it doubles up
pretty well as a textbook, since it has all the underlying mathematical
theory, presented in a clear and concise manner.

For sheer breadth and depth of coverage, this book is unmatched in the
field. It may not have enough on some topics to satisfy everyone, but
then i suspect most such topics were not so prominent in 1996, which
is when the book was written.

Starting with number theory, it goes on cover pseudorandom bits and
sequences, stream and block ciphers, hash functions, and digital signatures,
establishment protocols, implementation, patents and standards - you name
it, you got it.

On the one hand, there's enough theory to make you wonder whether it
should be called 'applied', but then it indeed qualifies as implementations
are discussed as well.

And of course, there's an exhaustive bibliography, with more pointers to
the literature than one could possibly follow up.

One word of caution, though : it requires hard work. If you want a more
'relaxed' coverage of comparable breadth (but not depth), you can do
worse than look up Bruce Schneier's 'Applied Crypography', which is a
delightful read, but nowhere as rigorous (read academic) as this one.

All in all, this is an indispensable reference for those in the field -
rigorous and exhaustive, yet eminently readable.

If you still haven't made your mind up, here's one final piece of advice :
visit the authors'(rather the book's) website, where you'll get the
implementations of all the algorithms in the book, and a (presumably)
pleasant surprise :-)

academic style, 18 Jul 1999
The book is thorough and complete, but it is written in the style of academia, where simple things are explained to exhaustion and complex or subtle ideas are often given a single sentence or are simply left to be inferred by the reader.

Thorough and complete, 14 Jun 1999
Menezes et. al. provide a thorough review of the field of cryptography. It's the first book I grab when I'm looking for something. Much more in depth than Bruce Scheier's "Applied Cryptography"

Consider it a Bible of Cryptography, 23 Oct 1998
It is an excellent book. Almost everything you want to know about cryptography in one huge book (with many pages and small letters). No need for a second one. Algorithms, uses, known attacks, everything there. It also includes very detailed and up to date references about any subject it coves (for those who need to know more).

It is a MUST for everyone who needs to know about cryptography and how cryptography serves Information Security. Not for those who need just an introductory book.

Downsides: Quite expensive. It needs a lot of time and patient to read it. It requires adequate mathematical background.

A useful quick primer, 10 Jun 2008
Schaum's Outlines are never going to be classics, but they are sound, inexpensive and good value. Despite having an extensive library of other mathematics texts, I often come back to Schaum's for the worked-out solutions of problems.

In my work I often meet software engineers who started out in other disciplines and have had very little exposure to the parts of discrete mathematics that are useful in software engineering. I normally suggest that they use this Schaum's Outline of Discrete Mathematics as a quick primer. So far there have been no complaints!



A pleasant read, 22 Aug 2007
I read this book whilst on holiday (had my laptop with me, but managed not to turn it on).

The first part is a gentle intoduction to algorithms. There's little or no mathematics, but the concepts are well covered. The second part is the catalog, which seemed to live up to its name.

This is a must for programmers, 29 Jun 1999
This book is very well organized. It really helps identifying and solving problems. Highly recommended.

The hitch-hiker's guide to Algorithms., 28 Jul 1998
The Catalog was my main reason for buying the book. It's an invaluable reference base for people whose boss 'needs an answer by tomorrow'.

+ : The War Stories are fun reading, and do a good job of explaining how theory relates to practice. - : Restating the obvious at times, while deliberately vague elsewhere. Net : if you use a greedy heuristic to select your reading, this book probably comes ahead of the pack.

Quite a useful repository of algorithms, 06 May 1998
This book has some excellent information about writing and selecting algorithms, step by step, as well as plenty of pointers to outside information. Chapter 8 in particular is an invaluable reference for quickly implementing a solution to any of many varied problems.

However, the textual explanations are sometimes confusing, with significant "jumps" between concepts that could throw off the beginning algorist. Furthermore, the author discounts entire paradigms of computer programming, giving the text a biased and unbalanced feel.

Review from co-developer of the CD-ROM and website, 07 Oct 1997
As an unbiased reviewer :^) I feel that this is the most useful algorithms text written for the real-world algorist. The CD-ROM contains a wealth of information (including the entire repository of implementations found on the affiliated website, and hours of audio lectures from the author's own algorithms course). The catalog of algorithms is also invaluable.

Soon time for third edition?, 21 Feb 2007
The book is not for the average reader, you must be proficient with code and have a basic grasp of the math behind public key cryptography. The author is doing an excellent job at tryng to explain and simplify, so for the experienced coder it should be a fairly easy read.
The collection of algorithms is impressive and the analysis of them is thorough. Since quite a few were added between the first edition and second, I cannot but help thinking a third edition should be due soon.
I'd say this is good value for the money and a must have for anyone thinking of doing any coding related to (public key and other) cryptography.

Best in the field, 07 Aug 2004
This book is an excellent, in-depth guide to cryptography. It is an excellent starting point for a beginner, and is not stuffed with filler pages like so many technical books these days. It includes especially clear coverage of public-key cryptography, and the source code is a welcome bonus.

The only qualms I had was that despite advertising "Protocols, Algorithms and Source Code in C" the book includes only source code right at the very end, to a handful of encryption algorithms. Also, it does not discuss the AES, which I would have liked.

Nonetheless, an excellent books - a necessity for anyone interested in cryptography.

Highly recommended., 29 Apr 2003
I read this book from cover to cover while on holiday. I was astonished at the number of ways ways in which cryptography can be applied. The maths is kept to a minimum, which suited me, and the concepts were ably covered despite this. I would almost describe this as an exciting read!

not a bad book, 21 Mar 2002
The book is well structured, but very difficult, you have to have a lot of background maths before you can understand it, i am studying at university, but i am finding it hard to keep up with the book, yet i would recomend it because it has some aspects in it which are easy to understand

concentrates on unimportant and uninteresting information, 14 Aug 2001
The book is too full of useless garbage. The information is also often presented in an over complicated manner.

I wouldn't use this as my primary book, 27 May 2008
I felt the first few chapters were really geared towards newcomers to 2D/3D Maths and so every topic in the earlier chapters were covered very slowly and in detail. However, as I progressed through the chapters I noticed the authors had started accelerating through the topics at a quicker pace and I was left somewhat confused and so I had to research many of the topics from other resources.

One thing I really didn't like about the book was that the exercises were left to be done at the end of each chapter. The problem with this approach was that some chapters expanded across many pages packed with information you needed to know and thus, like a traditional maths book I would have liked to practice a few questions after each topic and not after a whole chapter.

Not sure who would find this useful, 21 Apr 2008
Sure the book starts off with really really simple maths, using 1d and 2d maths for a springboard. It slowly eases into vector and matrix maths, all described fairly run of the mill. So far so good.

Reading further on into geometric principles and intersections it becomes apparent that the author seems to have forgotten all about the first half of the book and is quickly rambling on using terms and symbols not previously referred to and thus will more than likely lose anyone without a mathematics degree.

Most of the articles here are locatable on the internet if you know how to use a search engine, and described in a much more user friendly way.

3D Maths for mathematicians, 21 Aug 2007
I bought this book thinking it would explain 3D maths to me, a programmer, but instead found it better suited to mathematicians who want to understand vectors and matrices.
There is virtually no pseudocode in the book, and only around 50 pages out of 400 cover 3D graphics in practice, and then in little depth.
The only people who will get anything from this book are people with a degree in Computer Science (and they will probably know 3D maths already).



Highly recommended, 28 Apr 2005
I love this book, and it has payed off very well for me.
The author has a remarkable skill to explain even the most difficult subjects in a way that everyone understands. For example, The Cartesian coordinate system is abstracted to a system of roads.
However, this simplification is not an issue for intermediate/advanced programmers or math students. All topics are provided with formulas and concise material; making this book good for everyone.
Topics covered (but not limited to) vectors, coordination systems, dot-product, cross-product, quaternions, matrices, Auler-angles, bsp-trees, screen projection, culling, bounding-boxes (and a load of other intersection tests).

Still I missed something. The author(s) also covers gourad shading, texture mapping and several other techniques, but they don't go into depth. Different lighting models were given a formula at best, which fortunately is good enough for me. Just don't expect the book to be API-specific or contain information about rendering methods.
The source code which came with the book compiled, but looks awful and very messy. The source code works very well as a reference, but it you are buying the book mainly for the code; don't. I hope they'll update their source code from the webpage soon.

Conclusion: This is a very good book to start with. It contains all the linear algebra math you'll need to start with 3D-programming, and is explained remarkably well. Yet the simplification is nevertheless no con for non-beginners, which will probably use this book as a reference laying on their desktop at all times :-)

Exceptionally good book, 25 Feb 2004
The authors of this book is a game programmer and a professor of Computer Science. This team is excellent!

The game programmer has alot of focus on making the material understandable, and the professor has focus on the mathematically correct semantics. Unlike other books, that teaches game programming (of which many have an author with his strength on either field), this book has the right blend of understandable text parred with the right mathematical semantics.

Furthermore the text is supported by code, so if you are shaky on some of the math, you can see the implementation in C++ code.

As a total math newbie, this book helped me alot, and today I understand totally and in detail what is going on in my 3D programming.

An ABSOLUTE MUST, if you want to learn 3D on top level.

very well written, 03 Dec 2001
This book is very well written. I had already covered the first 4 chapters within 20 minutes...The language is simple and straightforward to understand, although you do have to concentrate and try to understand the concepts, coz you'll get lost otherwise. All in all, i recommend this book !

good stuff, 14 Aug 1999
A good book which does NOT cover all the aspects of discreet mathematics, such as Abstract Algebra, Predicate Calculus. Otherwise it is well done. It is very good stuff indeed.

So good it makes me want to sing: "Your rhymes are ridiculous, mine are meticulous, prepared with Algebra, trigonometry, logic and Calculus"

Excellent reference indeed, 25 Jan 2003
If you're going to work in the area of Cryptography, you can't afford
to neglect this book.

We used this in a course, and even though it's a handbook, it doubles up
pretty well as a textbook, since it has all the underlying mathematical
theory, presented in a clear and concise manner.

For sheer breadth and depth of coverage, this book is unmatched in the
field. It may not have enough on some topics to satisfy everyone, but
then i suspect most such topics were not so prominent in 1996, which
is when the book was written.

Starting with number theory, it goes on cover pseudorandom bits and
sequences, stream and block ciphers, hash functions, and digital signatures,
establishment protocols, implementation, patents and standards - you name
it, you got it.

On the one hand, there's enough theory to make you wonder whether it
should be called 'applied', but then it indeed qualifies as implementations
are discussed as well.

And of course, there's an exhaustive bibliography, with more pointers to
the literature than one could possibly follow up.

One word of caution, though : it requires hard work. If you want a more
'relaxed' coverage of comparable breadth (but not depth), you can do
worse than look up Bruce Schneier's 'Applied Crypography', which is a
delightful read, but nowhere as rigorous (read academic) as this one.

All in all, this is an indispensable reference for those in the field -
rigorous and exhaustive, yet eminently readable.

If you still haven't made your mind up, here's one final piece of advice :
visit the authors'(rather the book's) website, where you'll get the
implementations of all the algorithms in the book, and a (presumably)
pleasant surprise :-)

academic style, 18 Jul 1999
The book is thorough and complete, but it is written in the style of academia, where simple things are explained to exhaustion and complex or subtle ideas are often given a single sentence or are simply left to be inferred by the reader.

Thorough and complete, 14 Jun 1999
Menezes et. al. provide a thorough review of the field of cryptography. It's the first book I grab when I'm looking for something. Much more in depth than Bruce Scheier's "Applied Cryptography"

Consider it a Bible of Cryptography, 23 Oct 1998
It is an excellent book. Almost everything you want to know about cryptography in one huge book (with many pages and small letters). No need for a second one. Algorithms, uses, known attacks, everything there. It also includes very detailed and up to date references about any subject it coves (for those who need to know more).

It is a MUST for everyone who needs to know about cryptography and how cryptography serves Information Security. Not for those who need just an introductory book.

Downsides: Quite expensive. It needs a lot of time and patient to read it. It requires adequate mathematical background.

Nice introduction to coding theory, 20 Feb 2007
A nice book, and an easy read if you already feel comfortable around vectorspaces over finite fields. Most of the math required in a basic course on coding is here and it's quite accessible. A few sections seems out of place, but except from that it's a good book. Although the pace picks up towards the end, this is probably not a graduate level book, so if used at that level to introduce coding theory additional material is required. Most of the problems are fairly simple, and have answers towards the end of the book. If you have the required level of "mathematical maturity" and are meeting coding theory for the first time, pick up this book, it was written for you. If you are looking for your second book you probably want to look somewhere else. (There are many "second books" out there but Blahut's book from 2003, or one of the titles by Vera Pless would be my choice).

Essential Coding Theory Textbook, 10 May 2001
I like this book because it is split up into managable study sections of about an hour each. Although the chapters are well connected, it is not necessary to study the chapters in order if you just want to dip into it now and again. Hill provides enough theory for a rigourous treatment and yet it is still reader friendly. Ideal for mathematics students studying a course or interested in the applications of algebra

A useful quick primer, 10 Jun 2008
Schaum's Outlines are never going to be classics, but they are sound, inexpensive and good value. Despite having an extensive library of other mathematics texts, I often come back to Schaum's for the worked-out solutions of problems.

In my work I often meet software engineers who started out in other disciplines and have had very little exposure to the parts of discrete mathematics that are useful in software engineering. I normally suggest that they use this Schaum's Outline of Discrete Mathematics as a quick primer. So far there have been no complaints!



A pleasant read, 22 Aug 2007
I read this book whilst on holiday (had my laptop with me, but managed not to turn it on).

The first part is a gentle intoduction to algorithms. There's little or no mathematics, but the concepts are well covered. The second part is the catalog, which seemed to live up to its name.

This is a must for programmers, 29 Jun 1999
This book is very well organized. It really helps identifying and solving problems. Highly recommended.

The hitch-hiker's guide to Algorithms., 28 Jul 1998
The Catalog was my main reason for buying the book. It's an invaluable reference base for people whose boss 'needs an answer by tomorrow'.

+ : The War Stories are fun reading, and do a good job of explaining how theory relates to practice. - : Restating the obvious at times, while deliberately vague elsewhere. Net : if you use a greedy heuristic to select your reading, this book probably comes ahead of the pack.

Quite a useful repository of algorithms, 06 May 1998
This book has some excellent information about writing and selecting algorithms, step by step, as well as plenty of pointers to outside information. Chapter 8 in particular is an invaluable reference for quickly implementing a solution to any of many varied problems.

However, the textual explanations are sometimes confusing, with significant "jumps" between concepts that could throw off the beginning algorist. Furthermore, the author discounts entire paradigms of computer programming, giving the text a biased and unbalanced feel.

Review from co-developer of the CD-ROM and website, 07 Oct 1997
As an unbiased reviewer :^) I feel that this is the most useful algorithms text written for the real-world algorist. The CD-ROM contains a wealth of information (including the entire repository of implementations found on the affiliated website, and hours of audio lectures from the author's own algorithms course). The catalog of algorithms is also invaluable.

Soon time for third edition?, 21 Feb 2007
The book is not for the average reader, you must be proficient with code and have a basic grasp of the math behind public key cryptography. The author is doing an excellent job at tryng to explain and simplify, so for the experienced coder it should be a fairly easy read.
The collection of algorithms is impressive and the analysis of them is thorough. Since quite a few were added between the first edition and second, I cannot but help thinking a third edition should be due soon.
I'd say this is good value for the money and a must have for anyone thinking of doing any coding related to (public key and other) cryptography.

Best in the field, 07 Aug 2004
This book is an excellent, in-depth guide to cryptography. It is an excellent starting point for a beginner, and is not stuffed with filler pages like so many technical books these days. It includes especially clear coverage of public-key cryptography, and the source code is a welcome bonus.

The only qualms I had was that despite advertising "Protocols, Algorithms and Source Code in C" the book includes only source code right at the very end, to a handful of encryption algorithms. Also, it does not discuss the AES, which I would have liked.

Nonetheless, an excellent books - a necessity for anyone interested in cryptography.

Highly recommended., 29 Apr 2003
I read this book from cover to cover while on holiday. I was astonished at the number of ways ways in which cryptography can be applied. The maths is kept to a minimum, which suited me, and the concepts were ably covered despite this. I would almost describe this as an exciting read!

not a bad book, 21 Mar 2002
The book is well structured, but very difficult, you have to have a lot of background maths before you can understand it, i am studying at university, but i am finding it hard to keep up with the book, yet i would recomend it because it has some aspects in it which are easy to understand

concentrates on unimportant and uninteresting information, 14 Aug 2001
The book is too full of useless garbage. The information is also often presented in an over complicated manner.

I wouldn't use this as my primary book, 27 May 2008
I felt the first few chapters were really geared towards newcomers to 2D/3D Maths and so every topic in the earlier chapters were covered very slowly and in detail. However, as I progressed through the chapters I noticed the authors had started accelerating through the topics at a quicker pace and I was left somewhat confused and so I had to research many of the topics from other resources.

One thing I really didn't like about the book was that the exercises were left to be done at the end of each chapter. The problem with this approach was that some chapters expanded across many pages packed with information you needed to know and thus, like a traditional maths book I would have liked to practice a few questions after each topic and not after a whole chapter.

Not sure who would find this useful, 21 Apr 2008
Sure the book starts off with really really simple maths, using 1d and 2d maths for a springboard. It slowly eases into vector and matrix maths, all described fairly run of the mill. So far so good.

Reading further on into geometric principles and intersections it becomes apparent that the author seems to have forgotten all about the first half of the book and is quickly rambling on using terms and symbols not previously referred to and thus will more than likely lose anyone without a mathematics degree.

Most of the articles here are locatable on the internet if you know how to use a search engine, and described in a much more user friendly way.

3D Maths for mathematicians, 21 Aug 2007
I bought this book thinking it would explain 3D maths to me, a programmer, but instead found it better suited to mathematicians who want to understand vectors and matrices.
There is virtually no pseudocode in the book, and only around 50 pages out of 400 cover 3D graphics in practice, and then in little depth.
The only people who will get anything from this book are people with a degree in Computer Science (and they will probably know 3D maths already).



Highly recommended, 28 Apr 2005
I love this book, and it has payed off very well for me.
The author has a remarkable skill to explain even the most difficult subjects in a way that everyone understands. For example, The Cartesian coordinate system is abstracted to a system of roads.
However, this simplification is not an issue for intermediate/advanced programmers or math students. All topics are provided with formulas and concise material; making this book good for everyone.
Topics covered (but not limited to) vectors, coordination systems, dot-product, cross-product, quaternions, matrices, Auler-angles, bsp-trees, screen projection, culling, bounding-boxes (and a load of other intersection tests).

Still I missed something. The author(s) also covers gourad shading, texture mapping and several other techniques, but they don't go into depth. Different lighting models were given a formula at best, which fortunately is good enough for me. Just don't expect the book to be API-specific or contain information about rendering methods.
The source code which came with the book compiled, but looks awful and very messy. The source code works very well as a reference, but it you are buying the book mainly for the code; don't. I hope they'll update their source code from the webpage soon.

Conclusion: This is a very good book to start with. It contains all the linear algebra math you'll need to start with 3D-programming, and is explained remarkably well. Yet the simplification is nevertheless no con for non-beginners, which will probably use this book as a reference laying on their desktop at all times :-)

Exceptionally good book, 25 Feb 2004
The authors of this book is a game programmer and a professor of Computer Science. This team is excellent!

The game programmer has alot of focus on making the material understandable, and the professor has focus on the mathematically correct semantics. Unlike other books, that teaches game programming (of which many have an author with his strength on either field), this book has the right blend of understandable text parred with the right mathematical semantics.

Furthermore the text is supported by code, so if you are shaky on some of the math, you can see the implementation in C++ code.

As a total math newbie, this book helped me alot, and today I understand totally and in detail what is going on in my 3D programming.

An ABSOLUTE MUST, if you want to learn 3D on top level.

very well written, 03 Dec 2001
This book is very well written. I had already covered the first 4 chapters within 20 minutes...The language is simple and straightforward to understand, although you do have to concentrate and try to understand the concepts, coz you'll get lost otherwise. All in all, i recommend this book !

good stuff, 14 Aug 1999
A good book which does NOT cover all the aspects of discreet mathematics, such as Abstract Algebra, Predicate Calculus. Otherwise it is well done. It is very good stuff indeed.

So good it makes me want to sing: "Your rhymes are ridiculous, mine are meticulous, prepared with Algebra, trigonometry, logic and Calculus"

Excellent reference indeed, 25 Jan 2003
If you're going to work in the area of Cryptography, you can't afford
to neglect this book.

We used this in a course, and even though it's a handbook, it doubles up
pretty well as a textbook, since it has all the underlying mathematical
theory, presented in a clear and concise manner.

For sheer breadth and depth of coverage, this book is unmatched in the
field. It may not have enough on some topics to satisfy everyone, but
then i suspect most such topics were not so prominent in 1996, which
is when the book was written.

Starting with number theory, it goes on cover pseudorandom bits and
sequences, stream and block ciphers, hash functions, and digital signatures,
establishment protocols, implementation, patents and standards - you name
it, you got it.

On the one hand, there's enough theory to make you wonder whether it
should be called 'applied', but then it indeed qualifies as implementations
are discussed as well.

And of course, there's an exhaustive bibliography, with more pointers to
the literature than one could possibly follow up.

One word of caution, though : it requires hard work. If you want a more
'relaxed' coverage of comparable breadth (but not depth), you can do
worse than look up Bruce Schneier's 'Applied Crypography', which is a
delightful read, but nowhere as rigorous (read academic) as this one.

All in all, this is an indispensable reference for those in the field -
rigorous and exhaustive, yet eminently readable.

If you still haven't made your mind up, here's one final piece of advice :
visit the authors'(rather the book's) website, where you'll get the
implementations of all the algorithms in the book, and a (presumably)
pleasant surprise :-)

academic style, 18 Jul 1999
The book is thorough and complete, but it is written in the style of academia, where simple things are explained to exhaustion and complex or subtle ideas are often given a single sentence or are simply left to be inferred by the reader.

Thorough and complete, 14 Jun 1999
Menezes et. al. provide a thorough review of the field of cryptography. It's the first book I grab when I'm looking for something. Much more in depth than Bruce Scheier's "Applied Cryptography"

Consider it a Bible of Cryptography, 23 Oct 1998
It is an excellent book. Almost everything you want to know about cryptography in one huge book (with many pages and small letters). No need for a second one. Algorithms, uses, known attacks, everything there. It also includes very detailed and up to date references about any subject it coves (for those who need to know more).

It is a MUST for everyone who needs to know about cryptography and how cryptography serves Information Security. Not for those who need just an introductory book.

Downsides: Quite expensive. It needs a lot of time and patient to read it. It requires adequate mathematical background.

Nice introduction to coding theory, 20 Feb 2007
A nice book, and an easy read if you already feel comfortable around vectorspaces over finite fields. Most of the math required in a basic course on coding is here and it's quite accessible. A few sections seems out of place, but except from that it's a good book. Although the pace picks up towards the end, this is probably not a graduate level book, so if used at that level to introduce coding theory additional material is required. Most of the problems are fairly simple, and have answers towards the end of the book. If you have the required level of "mathematical maturity" and are meeting coding theory for the first time, pick up this book, it was written for you. If you are looking for your second book you probably want to look somewhere else. (There are many "second books" out there but Blahut's book from 2003, or one of the titles by Vera Pless would be my choice).

Essential Coding Theory Textbook, 10 May 2001
I like this book because it is split up into managable study sections of about an hour each. Although the chapters are well connected, it is not necessary to study the chapters in order if you just want to dip into it now and again. Hill provides enough theory for a rigourous treatment and yet it is still reader friendly. Ideal for mathematics students studying a course or interested in the applications of algebra

Good reference to start from, 01 Nov 2000
If you are on a computing degree, you will more than likely cover this subject. If you understand how the mathematics work, or quite far into the subject this book will just be sitting on your book self, but if you are finding the subject difficult, you should buy this book, as it takes you through the basics of the course.