Feb 19,1997
Chip Morningstar, Electric Communities,
Making Java A Secure Programming Language

Speaker: Chip Morningstar,
Electric Communities

Title: Making Java A Secure Programming Language

Abstract:

Electric Communities is developing highly distributed and highly extensible applications and services for the Internet. To achieve a high level of extensibility in a distributed environment, we wish to allow mutually suspicious computational objects of uncertain provenance to interoperate in a common address space. We would like them to be able to do so safely. A capability-secure programming language can enable this. Java, now becoming ubiquitous, is almost, but not quite, such a language. The world of Java object instances corresponds almost perfectly with the capability model. Unfortunately, the world of Java classes and packages does not. However, by structuring the execution environment of Java objects using techniques that will be described in this presentation, it is possible to constrain objects' access to classes and packages in a manner that pulls the entire language into the capability paradigm.

Biography:

Chip Morningstar is one of the founders of Electric Communities, where he is currently Chief Scientist. At EC he is the lead architect of the communications protocols and object technology which the company is developing to facilitate effective commercial and social interaction over computer networks. He has been a leader in the development of online virtual environments for many years, including CompuServe's WorldsAway, the American Information Exchange (AMiX), and Lucasfilm's Habitat. He has also worked as an image processing researcher, programming language designer and backwoods grocery store manager. He is a graduate of the University of Michigan.

Contact:

Electric Communities
10101 N. DeAnza Blvd.
Cupertino, CA 95014
408-342-9500
http://www.communities.com
chip@communities.com

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