From: "Frank O'Dwyer" <fod@brd.ie>
Date: Thu, 9 Jan 1997 17:24:13 -0800 (PST)
To: Hal Finney <hal@rain.org>
Subject: Re: [IDEA] Cypherpunks Super Computer (was Re: The Upcoming DES Challenge)
In-Reply-To: <199701092015.MAA00707@crypt.hfinney.com>
Message-ID: <199701100041.AAA11442@brd.ie>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain



[...] 
> I suspect that Java, when it gets its security API, may be a good
> candidate for this kind of system.  It's already got high level socket
> I/O, and with a bignum package and some basic crypto primitives like
> one way functions, you could do a lot with it.  You still have the
> problem of trading off safety for utility, though.

I like Java too, however it is getting to be a systems programming
language.  In my experience people are irrationally scared of it, too
(while happily tapping their secrets into MS-word, of course :-)

What I have in mind is more obviously restricted, and more like a 
programmable calculator (with bignums and buttons marked "DES") - no
sockets, no files, no system calls, etc.  Just number-crunching.
 
I take the point about Safe-TCL, but there must be some way of doing
this in a way that enough people think it's safe to run. 

Cheers,
Frank O'Dwyer.