Harry Spier wrote at 02/11/2012 11:46 PM:
Would it be possible for someone to briefly explain what sandboxes are used for. The documentation Racket Reference 13.11 explains what they do, but could someone explain where you would use them.
Sandboxes are useful when evaluating untrusted or less-trusted code, for stability and security.
For one example, let's say that you are implementing an online multiplayer 3D fighting robot game that lets individual users design their own fighting robot's 3D model and program macros for complex robot kung-fu techniques (or dance-off moves). If these macros are run as Racket VM code that on the server (in threads, for 'real-time' simulation), simply providing a Racket language that doesn't include procedures like "delete-file" is not enough. Similarly, if these macros are run on players' individual machines, you might still wish to use sandboxes, if you expect players to share macros they develop (like open source software), and you want to prevent snot-nosed brat sociopaths (i.e., half the players of any Xbox FPS game) from tricking other players into running malicious macros.
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