This section builds on the previous one -- concurrency.
The above sections cover the only kind of distributed programming currently supported by E -- programming with on-line messages sent over live references. The one form of off-line communication currently support by E is the SturdyRef, an off-line reference transmissible over other media. SPKI points the way to a very different means of implementing and using distributed cryptographic capabilities: via off-line certificates. Indeed, to the degree that SPKI can be said to be the foundations for a capability system, E-speak >= 3.0 is a capability system built from SPKI. Inspired by SPKI and Nikita Borisov's Active Certificates, at CapCert we are working towards a draft proposal for what would be a full fledged capability system implemented from off-line active invocation certificates. CapCert and the above on-line protocols are naturally complementary. We hope to see a future E (sometime after 1.0) in which these two are well integrated. |
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