Embedded Section Index | Page 4

How can I improve performance?

Code size is particularly important for post-issuance applets: they are loaded in EEPROM, so the bigger they get, the less application data you can store. Here are a number of tips that help reduc...more

Here are a number of tips that help conserve memory: When possible, allocate all applet resources in the constructor. This is interesting for two reasons. First, if there's not enough memory to i...more

Right now, you most likely can't debug a Java Card applet at source level, because the Java Card Virtual Machine you're working on doesn't support the Java Platform Debugger Architecture (JPDA) ...more

In the smart card context, the mask is the software that is burned in ROM by the chip manufacturer. This will include the runtime environment and the default applications provided by the card issu...more

Chances are you have currently at least one smart card in your pocket right now! The main fields where smart cards are used are banking, mobile telephony (GSM), pay-TV, e-commerce (e-wallet, B2B, ...more

The Java Card 2.1.2 SDK, released in April 2001, contains: Two Java Card simulators: JCWDE (Java Card Workstation Development Environment), which is written in Java, and CREF, which is a native e...more

Cards come in two flavors: memory cards and processor cards. Memory cards have no CPU and thus have no processing power: they are just used to store data. Processor cards have a CPU, which enabl...more

Cryptography is mostly known as the art of encryption, i.e. protecting confidential data by transforming it into something unintelligible. However, cryptography is also the basis for authenticati...more

The card issuer (Schlumberger, Gemplus, Oberthur Card Systems, etc) writes the runtime environment and sends it to the chip manufacturer. The chip manufacturer (Philips, ST Micro, Infineon, etc) b...more

Cryptography is a fascinating field. Here are a few pointers to get you started: The Cryptography FAQ at RSA Labs. Applied Cryptography: Protocols, Algorithms, and Source Code in C, Second Editi...more

There are three main reasons why you have to optimize your code: Resources are extremely constrained. EEPROM size typically is 32Kb, and is used to hold post-issuance applets as well as applicati...more

First of all, you don’t need to be a smart card expert: that’s the whole point of Java Card. With some experience of the Java language, you should be able to write Java Card applications...more

There are three other options: Proprietary card operating systems. MULTOS, a standard put together by Mondex International and now maintained by the MAOSCO Consortium (Europay, Mastercard, Americ...more

The purpose of Java Card is two-fold: Simplify smart card application development: until recently, pretty much everything was coded in C and assembly, using proprietary card operating systems. Us...more