Written by two renowned researchers, this graduate level textbook provides a thorough grounding in the field of cryptography. This topic is central to the graduate level curriculum in mathematics and electrical engineering since finite fields play a central role in the theory and practice of error correcting codes and cryptography. The authors are planning to make this book as comprehensive as possible in coverage in that it includes both theory and the more practical side of the topic. Unlike many of the other books on this topic the authors do not require a sophisticated background in linear algebra.