Preface

The need for cryptography in application development is increasing steadily and goes hand-in-hand with the need to build solutions that better protect users' privacy and are safe even from more widespread, complex threats.

This book is designed to help software developers understand how to build common cryptographic operations as part of their solutions and to do so safely, using hashing, symmetric and asymmetric encryption, and digital signatures.

Throughout the book, we focus on the practical aspects that are relevant to all application developers, even those without a background in cryptography. For each class of cryptographic operation, we will learn about the role it plays in improving applications or unlocking new opportunities, which algorithms are commonly used, and what you need to know to be able to use it safely.

Written by a developer for developers, this book contains what I've learned over many years of working with cryptography and implementing applications based on common cryptographic schemes. I've made a conscious decision to skip formal explanations of how algorithms work, including the mathematical formulations behind them, and I'm instead focusing on practical, actionable knowledge that every developer can feel comfortable leveraging as part of the solutions they're building.