I think this course was too difficult so those 6 weeks became much longer for me - maybe timeconsumption was 12 weeks. So that is my only criticism. This course could in my opinion have been divided into "Cryptography basics" and "Cryptography 1". On the other hand, I know Stanford is a good university, I just wish I had been informed about a course that could more easily have introduced me to the topic. This is/was my first cryptography course, so it was a very hard task for me to go through... But the instructor seems very good in his research field and many people recommend this course, thanks.

Professor is very knowledgable but he is fast... Even before i can understand the first line. he is on the fourth line. i find Hard to keep up with him. I am dropping this course.

I really enjoyed this course!

I was glad to work on prime numbers and RSA, even if it was quite late in the course.

I would not recommend it for everyone, though. It is definitely not for beginners; you need a mathematical mind and a solid maths knowledge. So, overall more difficult than what I expected.

Some things could be improved:

- the description of the course could go into more details (maybe with an entertaining short video?), especially regarding the requirements level mentioned above and the overall difficulty level you can expect

- a *formatted* transcript would be awesome

- sometimes, Dan speaks too fast or his writing is not 'top-notch'

- repeating the major concepts, and repeating them in a different way each time, could be done more frequently

- the audio track has been edited and can be 'bumpy' sometimes + do not hesitate to insert more pauses!!

- the course is a bit theoretical and could use more real-life, very concrete applications

Furthermore, at some stages of the course, it is hard to see the 'big picture'. We get the latter at the very end.

Also, keep in mind that the tests are not way easier than the corresponding lessons... quite the contrary actually.

I must highlight two very useful things during the course: recaps at the beginning of some videos, and 'graphical' explanations.

Finally, I had some good laughs hearing Dan state 'it's not that hard', 'it's not that difficult to see' or 'this is a pretty straightforward proof'... Reminded me of my old advanced maths classes.

It requires knowledge of how cryptography works and the terms used to describe cryptography. I would not recommend it as a beginner course.

This isn't a beginners course. I dropped out in first week. I took every note I could and reviewed again and again. I really think the instructor is an intelligent man, but I'm not quite sure he understands how to teach well. I'm really disappointed that I didn't get to take anything away from this class.

Cutting edge cryptography topics. Good explanations and slides, but pause button is highly recommended. Can be a bit too mathematical for the general public, and not very formal for mathematicians.

There were too many repititions of tautological proofs. Should have been covered in 1/2 or more of a single session: this is how we reason about cryptography. Too much focus on low-level primitives which doesn't make sense if we are to never implement our own cryptography. Finally, as a general point it would be amazing if there were ungraded "practice sets" that came with answers: you work it work them out and look at the answers and if you don't understand you try to figure out what you can't get. You can ask questions on the forum without revealing anything. The focus should be on working problems. Then, the quiz needn't permit infinite retrials: working through the practice sets is where the learning would occur. As it is now, you listen to the lecture, read over the notes several times, and then try the quiz. I did the programming before taking the quiz: that was a chance to actual work with the crypto algorithms.

There should be examples regarding to assignment questions i.e. there should be examples similar to assignment questions

Very theoretical and mathematical and not enough real examples.

Only theory No practicals or solved questions

This course gives is perfect to start learning cryptography, explanations are detailed, topics carefully selected combining theory with real world examples and making emphasis in important details.

Instructor does not know how to teach at all. Too fast, near to zero authentic explanations about any topic. He is knowledgeable, I'll give him that. But this course forces you to basically suffer if you want to actually understand the material fully - by having to replay the videos over and over again.

Also, the mathematical notations he use are understandable, but not standard. He makes them up, lol.

Disappointed in this course :(

Should have come with an explanation that non IT background people cannot apply

Excellent introduction to cryptography for those with little to no prior knowledge of the subject.

Would recommend becoming familiar with number theory as a precursor, as this underpins many of the concepts introduced. While not essential (as the basics are covered and references are provided to support material), the focus is much more on cryptography than mathematics.

Lectures are well structured and build on each other in a logical progression. Exercise questions are well thought out, and effectively test understanding of the modules. I would also recommend undertaking the optional programming exercises, as these tend to throw up practical issues that may not always be apparent from the course notes.

A really hard class for anyone not graduated from collage.

The course assumes a solid understanding of university mathematics. I see reviews saying he just makes up mathematical notation, but he isn't, the professor assumes an understanding of Discrete Mathematics. If you haven't taken a Group Theory or Rings and Fields class you will not understand this course. It's not written anywhere, and the professor never says it. You are better off reading a textbook.

The course is excellent! Exactly what you would expect from a world-class institution like Stanford.

Prof. Boneh masterfully guides you through the core building blocks of cryptography, beautifully weaving the concepts into a logical framework that helps understanding the big picture and the role that each plays. The course is very rigorous but the math is not overwhelming and also discusses very useful practical topics like common cryptographic protocols (TLS, WEP, etc.) and the attacks that were discovered over the years.

The course is challenging and takes quite a bit of effort, but at the end I feel that I learned a lot. While I probably need some more time and practice exercises to fully absorb the material, I feel that from here I could go on and independently dig deeper in some of the topics or tackle more advanced one.

Looking forward to part II!

Edit: I could shorten it out to a summary:

"The most valuable course I ever enrolled in, this website and course is so extremely vital, I recommend anyone interested in cryptography to enroll in this course. " - William M

BRILLIANT! ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT! THANKS FOR THIS AMAZING COURSE DAN BONEH! THIS WAS THE MOST VALUABLE KNOWLEDGE I COULD EVER HAVE IN MY ENTIRE LIFE!

AGAIN, THANK YOU SO EXTREMELY MUCH!

I would recommend ANYONE TO TAKE THIS COURSE, even if you're just beginning in Cryptography, I was hooked after the first day of "intro" about what ciphers are, how they work, and how you break them.

Again, can't say this enough; this course was, and is VITAL! As it's so extremely well made!

Thanks!

This course is very well explained and stimulating. I am a third year maths undergraduate in the UK. Although I did find some concepts from computer science very foreign in the very beginning, I soon picked them up. So don't be afraid if you are like me who don't know much about computer science. Staying active and curious is the key. Good luck with the course and I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. And here I would like to say thank you to Dan Boneh for making the videos and making this course public. I am looking forward to take Cryptography II in this autumn.

Provides a comprehensive introduction to cryptographic history, current technology, best practices and known attacker techniques. A great deal of material is covered in a relatively compact program.