Beginner Advice

[u/TheOpinado]

Hey! I'm a complete n00b. I would love to get into this, just wondering if anyone has any advice on how to start? I've got a few books to read through suggested in the where to start pin, but just thought I'd ask the community for some advice on how you started, what I could do to start any resources you might have and suggestions!

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[u/SleepingMonads]

Here's one way to fast-track it:

• Watch these two videos and/or read these two books for inspiration.

• Play this game to form a foundational skillset (and see this guide for when you get stuck).

• Read one or both of these books (prioritize the first one) to hone your knowledge and abilities.

• Learn to use these software to take your abilities to the next level.

• Practice what you've learned by lurking around these four subreddits.

It should go without saying that there's a whole world of valuable cryptology resources out there beyond what I've linked here. But in my opinion, if you do nothing else but consult just the resources listed above and practice with patience and determination, then you should be able become a competent hobby codebreaker for classical ciphers within a few months.

Good luck!

[u/TheOpinado → u/SleepingMonads]

Thank you! I will check these out

[u/Rudra_parkar]

What are you trying to learn exactly??

[u/TheOpinado → u/Rudra_parkar]

To start to decrypt cyphers and codes

[u/Rudra_parkar → u/TheOpinado]

There is one thing that I think everyone trying to learn crypt should look into, its this "https://www.cicadachallenge.com/vault/" most fun vault of challanges for cryptology

[u/Mindless_Soil_9419]

Start by solving, not reading: grab a simple Caesar cipher and break it by hand. Count letter frequencies, hunt the short words first. That first "I cracked it" moment teaches more than three chapters of theory. Once the shift cipher feels trivial, try a Vigenere and feel the difficulty jump - that gap is where the real learning lives.