Required Things to start Smartcard Programming Using Javacard

Question

I wanted to start with the smartcard programming soon. Please help me the things required for starting the learning using javacard. Which IDE (If any IDE Supports), Software and Hardware related? Like Mobile phone simulator is there any smartcard simulator or else if I have to buy a smartcard specify those cards where and how I can get?

Answer 1

A general answer regarding smartcard programming is that you should be ready to navigate a confusing list of tools and technologies. Typically smartcard developers begin with a specific hardware platform in mind: more specific than simply javacard.

Since you've specifically mentioned javacard, we can focus on a few starting points.

Javacard SDK

You might begin with the javacard dev kit. I haven't used the most recent - I'm still using 2.0.2. This dev kit is very command-line oriented, so expect to be doing most of your work outside an IDE. However, the documentation is pretty helpful and should get you up to speed pretty quickly. At any rate, it's a good place to start, since it's official.

EclipseJCDE also looks interesting, but I haven't used it. I seem to recall another project aiming to build javacard Eclipse tools, but I may just be thinking of EclipseJCDE.

IBM Tools

At one time IBM published and maintained a set of JCOP tools that integrated with the Eclipse IDE. The great thing about this is that they would send you a package containing some dev tools and a couple of JCOP cards. The annoying thing is that an activation code was required. Have a look here. The download link is still good, good luck with the email address listed there. Also note that these tools require an older build of Eclipse. The build/debug support is very good, including a built-in javacard simulator.

Global Platform

If you plan on doing javacard programming, you should also get to know Global Platform. It's a smartcard standard, and in the context of javacard, you'll need to know about the GP spec when you need to load and manage javacard applets. This is required for working with JCOP cards. For the latest GP spec search for GlobalPlatform Card Specifications. You'll need to be very familiar with basic smartcard concepts, e.g. APDUs.

Hardware

Hardware choices are too varied for me to make useful recommendations, beyond the JCOP stuff above. As I mentioned, if you can use the IBM kit then you'll get a good JCOP/javacard simulator with the Eclipse tools. I'm sure there are other card simulators available.

etc.

Beyond that there is a long list of other technical specifications employed by smartcard programmers, and unfortunately many of them aren't freely available (ISO docs). If you'll be doing GSM programming, I think you can get to all of the GSM specs, search for ETSI GSM specifications. GSM 11.11 is particularly useful for learning more about APDU command/response, without access to ISO specs, e.g. ISO 7816-4.