# Botan

# Recommended Reading

It’s a very good idea if you have some knowledge of cryptography before trying to use the library. This is an area where it is very easy to make mistakes, and where things are often subtle and/or counterintuitive. Obviously the library tries to provide things at a high level precisely to minimize the number of ways things can go wrong, but naive use will almost certainly not result in a secure system.

Especially recommended are:

- Cryptography Engineering Niels Ferguson, Bruce Schneier, and Tadayoshi Kohno
- Security Engineering – A Guide to Building Dependable Distributed Systems Ross Anderson
- Handbook of Applied Cryptography Alfred J. Menezes, Paul C. Van Oorschot, and Scott A. Vanstone (available online)