The IETF's RFCs are hardly ever "formal". At best they have a formal grammar, but never a formal semantics. And I disagree that formal specifications are intim

The IETF's RFCs are hardly ever "formal". At best they have a formal grammar, but never a formal semantics. And I disagree that formal specifications are intimidating. A formal specification is just code, so if you have trouble understanding something, you can enlist the computer's help. On the other hand, if an informal specification isn't clear to you, you are more or less screwed.