First Steps Toward a Cryptography-Aware Language and Compiler

M.  Barbosa; R.  Noad; D.  Page; N. P.  Smart

Paper 2005/160

First Steps Toward a Cryptography-Aware Language and Compiler

M. Barbosa, R. Noad, D. Page, and N. P. Smart

Abstract

When developing secure, high-performance cryptographic software, the programmer is presented with a wide range of problems. Not only must they be conversant with pertinent scientific results, they must efficiently translate said results into a practical context. Unlike when writing normal programs, they are given little help from either the language or compiler: both are typically too general purpose to offer domain specific optimisation or analysis that would save the programmer time and reduce the potential for error. As a step toward solving this problem we present CAO, a cryptography-aware domain-specific language and associated compiler system. Rather than being a panacea, we pitch CAO as a mechanism for transferring and automating the expert knowledge of cryptographers into a form which is accessible to anyone writing security conscious software.

Metadata

Available format(s): PDF PS
Category: Implementation
Publication info: Published elsewhere. Unknown where it was published
Contact author(s): page @ cs bris ac uk
History: 2005-06-04: received
Short URL: https://ia.cr/2005/160
License: CC BY

BibTeX

@misc{cryptoeprint:2005/160,
      author = {M.  Barbosa and R.  Noad and D.  Page and N. P.  Smart},
      title = {First Steps Toward a Cryptography-Aware Language and Compiler},
      howpublished = {Cryptology {ePrint} Archive, Paper 2005/160},
      year = {2005},
      url = {https://eprint.iacr.org/2005/160}
}