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Getting Started
========================================
If you need to build the library first, start with :doc:`building`.
Some Linux distributions include packages for Botan, so building from
source may not be required on your system.
.. only:: html
The :ref:`genindex` and :ref:`search` may be useful to get started.
.. only:: html and website
Examples
----------
Some examples of usage are included in this documentation. However a better
source for example code is in the implementation of the
which was intentionally written to act as practical examples of usage.
Books and other references
----------------------------
You should 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*
by Niels Ferguson, Bruce Schneier, and Tadayoshi Kohno
- `Security Engineering -- A Guide to Building Dependable Distributed Systems
by Alfred J. Menezes, Paul C. Van Oorschot, and Scott A. Vanstone
If you're doing something non-trivial or unique, you might want to at
the very least ask for review/input at a place such as the
mailing lists or the
And (if possible) pay a professional cryptographer or security company
to review your design and code.
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