From: Moltar Ramone <jlasser@rwd.goucher.edu>
Date: Thu, 25 Apr 1996 12:53:34 -0700 (PDT)
To: "Timothy C. May" <tcmay@got.net>
Subject: Re: Mindshare and Java
In-Reply-To: <ada43daa150210045c4d@[205.199.118.202]>
Message-ID: <Pine.SUN.3.91.960425153148.12377C-100000@rwd.goucher.edu>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


On Wed, 24 Apr 1996, Timothy C. May wrote:

> So, I was faced with a heart-rending choice: get an Intel box, put Linux on
> it, and try to "get in the mainstream" by writing something in Perl, or
> TCL, etc. (Though I note that the early success with writing remailers in
> Perl has not been followed by any other stunning applications of a
> similarly revolutionary nature...and I don't know of anybody doing anything
> Cypherpunkly-interesting in TCL, for example.)

Actually, I'm just starting such a project in TCL...

The first phase is as a shell for Matt Blaze's Crypto File System, so it 
can be run, and changes made, without opening up a shell or dealing with 
command-line options.

The next phase will be to write (what I beleive to be) the first graphical
PGP shell for X.

While this isn't a seriously cypherpunks-relevant app, as most people 
running X are capable of dealing with the command line (I am, too, but I 
don't want to open up a shell every time I load up my encrypted 
partition), but I'm using it as a jumping-off point.

I don't think TCL is suited to heavy-duty crypto applications, except as 
an interface. Mostly because it is interpreted, though I'm not sure how 
"everything is a string" would affect bignums. (And I wouldn't want to 
write a TCL bignum library...)

It might be possible to write a remailer front-end in TCL, and that might 
be a near-future project, if the frontend project proves successful. 
(Which it has, in a sense, because the first phase (though it isn't where 
I'd want to distribute it far and wide) is done to the point where I can 
load my CFS partition and disconnect it without opening a shell...

(early Alpha code is available upon request, and suggestions/help/co-writing
 is most certainly welcome...)

Jon Lasser
----------
Jon Lasser (410)494-3072                         - Obscenity  is a crutch  for
jlasser@rwd.goucher.edu                            inarticulate motherfuckers.
http://www.goucher.edu/~jlasser/
Finger for PGP key (1024/EC001E4D)               - Fuck the CDA.