Programmer's Reference


Application Programming Interface

The SciSslSocketInterface provides a Smalltalk application with a set of classes and methods to construct tasks that use the Secure Socket Layer and/or the Transport Layer Security protocols to provide secure communications over TCP/IP. The SciSslOpenSSLInterface class provides support for these protocols.

The SciSslOpenSSLInterface class is based on the OpenSSL API, an open source implementation of SSL/TLS based on the SSLeay library developed by Eric A. Young and Tim J. Hudson. The use of OpenSSL is provided under a dual license, the OpenSSL License and the SSLeay License.

Although the binaries for the OpenSSL library are provided with VisualAge Smalltalk, it is recommended that the user download and compile OpenSSL. Source and documentation can be found at the OpenSSL Website.

Installation instructions for most platforms are provided.

The driving force behind the choice to support the OpenSSL API was the degree of ongoing, active development the API continues to see. OpenSSL has active mailing lists where many developers can search for answers about developing ssl-enabled applications. The OpenSSL web site has more information about joining these lists.

The binaries included with VisualAge Smalltalk depend on the specific platform on which VAST is running. However, the major libraries are:


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