4 ms·
Actually, over lossy links, it's well known to be an impossible problem: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two_Generals%27_Problem https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tw
by jpatokal 11y ago
Actually, over lossy links, it's well known to be an impossible problem:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two_Generals%27_Problem https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two_Generals%27_Problem
- amelius 11y agoYou are right. But on that level, even breathing is an impossible problem, because the air molecules could statistically bounce out of the room.
- rlpb 11y agoI don't see how that's an issue here. The recipient doesn't need to know if his message receipt has been received. The burden remains with the sender to retry, just like TCP. The real Two Generals' Problem in instant messaging can just be passed to the communicating humans to deal with.
- vacri 11y agoA whatsapp conversation is not dependent on the parties coming to a consensus on the timing for a common event. Also, an army can only send so many messengers before you run out of soldiers (or operational readiness). Packets are free and plentiful. If you're on a network link so bad that you can't even occasionally receive a TCP ack, then you're very much an outlier.