5 ms·

Does anyone else find these informal specifications difficult to digest? The informative appendices link to papers on TPM and the like but it's hard to find a

Does anyone else find these informal specifications difficult to digest? The informative appendices link to papers on TPM and the like but it's hard to find a formal description of the protocol, or at least the sensitive parts, that could be independently validated or verified. Has there been any work to formally verify/validate the design of this protocol that I'm not seeing?

INTPenis 8y ago
You're not alone. I'm self-taught in english and it's not my first language. Although native english speakers have commended me I still find reading technical texts taxing. They fall in the category of any academic text. Be it from a uni, research group, specfication manual. I did not receive formal education in English so I don't understand those formal words. Every other sentence there's something I have to look up and then I'm in a rabbit hole. Actually same goes for my native tongue in some respect since I dropped out of school before reaching university. I've still managed to make a career in IT and often desire to read technical specifications but feel helpless when I try. My strategy so far has been to wait for an implementation in a language I can understand like Python, hopefully.
- _asummers 8y ago
  They're commending you because your English is terrific =) Learning a language is tough work, but if you didn't say anything I would have had no idea.
ak217 8y ago
What do you mean? https://www.w3.org/TR/webauthn/ https://www.w3.org/TR/webauthn/ includes formal specifications.
- agentultra 8y ago
  Formal as in Formal Mathematics -- a specification with a precise definition that can be verified by a model checker to have the desired safety and, if necessary, liveness guarantees.
  - mehh 8y ago
    Which flavour of Formal Mathmatical language would you suggest it should be written in?
    - agentultra 8y ago
      TLA+, Alloy, Isabelle, Coq, or Lean would all be fine choices. I'd prefer TLA+ myself as the language, TLA, is straight-forward maths.
      - mehh 8y ago
        What about Z or B?

INTPenis 8y ago

You're not alone. I'm self-taught in english and it's not my first language. Although native english speakers have commended me I still find reading technical texts taxing. They fall in the category of any academic text. Be it from a uni, research group, specfication manual. I did not receive formal education in English so I don't understand those formal words. Every other sentence there's something I have to look up and then I'm in a rabbit hole. Actually same goes for my native tongue in some respect since I dropped out of school before reaching university. I've still managed to make a career in IT and often desire to read technical specifications but feel helpless when I try. My strategy so far has been to wait for an implementation in a language I can understand like Python, hopefully.

_asummers 8y ago
They're commending you because your English is terrific =) Learning a language is tough work, but if you didn't say anything I would have had no idea.

ak217 8y ago

What do you mean? https://www.w3.org/TR/webauthn/ https://www.w3.org/TR/webauthn/ includes formal specifications.

agentultra 8y ago
Formal as in Formal Mathematics -- a specification with a precise definition that can be verified by a model checker to have the desired safety and, if necessary, liveness guarantees.
- mehh 8y ago
  Which flavour of Formal Mathmatical language would you suggest it should be written in?
  - agentultra 8y ago
    TLA+, Alloy, Isabelle, Coq, or Lean would all be fine choices. I'd prefer TLA+ myself as the language, TLA, is straight-forward maths.
    - mehh 8y ago
      What about Z or B?