[Cryptography Team] New Members

[Bill Schwab]

Ron,

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It's nice to talk to you again.
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Ditto!


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I agree there is much to be done.  I've been working with interfaces. 
I'm
working with wxWidgets (wxSqueak) which I think is very nice.  I'm also
looking at strongtalk but obviously that's further out.  What I think I
like
the most right now is Seaside.  I'm seriously considering using web
browsers
for everything.  
================================

Browsers are great for many things, and Seaside is a fascinating
technology.  
However, I still think that some things are a poor fit to a browser.  My
recordkeeper (Dolphin based) runs quite nicely on 500MHz Celerons with
win2k.  The user interface is fairly dynamic/data driven, and there were
places where I had to move away from native widgets to boost the speed. 
The native stuff is great for dialog boxes, but it falls short when
displaying hundreds of active cells, etc.  I have not yet tried similar
things in Morphic.  I can either map my widgets onto morphs, or if I did
something truly unique (which I doubt), I could create a morph that
becomes the parent to the widgets in question.



================================
Also I'm not having the same problems with sockets.  What problems are
you
having?  Protocol size headers Tag Size Value works pretty well to allow
you
to handle socket issues.
==================================

I have not gotten far enough to have problems (my fault more than
Squeak's [*]).  However, there have been multiple passes at socket
streams, and various cautions and warnings that make me suspicious there
is room for improvement.

[*] actually, the real fault is Dolphin's, in the sense that it has done
everything I have asked of it, to the point that I have had difficulty
justifying doing tests with Squeak.  FWIW, absense of SSL support was a
factor in at least one of the missed opportunities.


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I agree with this and I really need to spend some time on this.  When
Rob
and I were working on SSL we had problems with underscores.  What's odd
is
that I've been using underscores frequently and have had no problems at
all
with 3.9.  At some point I need to figure out why it works for me and
fails
for others.
===============================================

Do you use underscores in selectors?  In my tests, it has not yet
worked.  There has long been a patch to allow underscores everywhere
except the first character of a selector (I could live with that), but
the community has refused to fold it into the mainstream release.  I
really don't get it.

Elsewhere in the image, the underscore situation has improved
dramatically.  At least some of the selector hangup is probably related
to problems that arose with the underscore fix code.  Hopefully that
will happen, and the special status of $_ will be removed.  I have no
objection to a single key shortcut for assignment, but I have always
maintained that it should be an optional feature of the editor, not a
hack in the compiler and sources.



===============================================
Here are my thoughts on the issue.  I would like to support OpenSSL but
there have been some concerns raised about how to secure the interface
between squeak and the openSSL libs.  
===============================================

Is that unique to OpenSSL, or would the same apply to any DLL?  This is
probably a sign that I have more archive reading to do - which is indeed
the case.


===============================================
Also it was much more an attractive
proposition when OpenSSL was FIPS certified.  The fact that Microsoft's
CryptoAPI is FIPS certified makes it an attractive option.  It has been
mentioned here that if we follow the common criteria that the benefit to
FIPS certification diminishes some.  I would really like to focus on
standard tests for native squeak cryptography.  The problem is I don't
have
much time right now to do it myself.  We need help!
===============================================

To clarify, are you saying that OpenSSL lost its certification?  My
understanding is that it was certified in January or thereabouts. 
Hopefully that has not been reversed.


===============================================
As for my own projects, we just filed our patents.  We are looking for
funding, and I expect that our products are at least a year out. 
Hopefully
once we have a working prototype you will consider helping us with
Anesthesiology Medical Records.  Nice to hear from you Bill!
===============================================

Good luck with your efforts.  We would have to learn more about what you
want to do and how, but I know a little about anesthesia records<g> and
might indeed be interested.  Beyond intraoperative records, we can help
with ICU flow sheets, H&P, billing, etc..  Please keep us in mind.

Bill



Wilhelm K. Schwab, Ph.D.
University of Florida
Department of Anesthesiology
PO Box 100254
Gainesville, FL 32610-0254

Email: bills at anest4.anest.ufl.edu
Tel: (352) 846-1285
FAX: (352) 392-7029