3 ms·
RFC 2468 – I Remember IANA (1998)
- chubot 5y agoI got an amazing reference from a reader on the narrow waist article [1]. I asked for the origin of the idea, and the first 10 minutes of this video have a very convincing story by Internet engineer Van Jacobson. Watching NDN’s Waist, 2019: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69p78tfm29o https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69p78tfm29o Summary: Jon Postel not only made the analogy, but he did much of the technical work and engineering leadership! As designed by Cerf and Kahn, TCP/IP was one protocol. Postel argued for IP to be separated as the narrow waist. And then he spent the next 20 years as RFC editor keeping features out of it. This RFC by Cerf confirms Postel’s huge influence! ----- I added a second addendum saying this, and I might amplify this more in future posts, since it’s a great story with lessons for modern times: http://www.oilshell.org/blog/2022/02/diagrams.html#whats-the-history-of-this-idea http://www.oilshell.org/blog/2022/02/diagrams.html#whats-the... The point of the post was that people have to TRY to design powerful and minimal things – it’s difficult engineering work. And this is a very concrete story about people who did exactly that! Jacobson also mention the vendor lock-in incentive, which is in direct opposition, and is sadly why more people don’t understand this. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30483914 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30483914 and https://lobste.rs/s/o3rjb0/internet_was_designed_with_narrow_waist https://lobste.rs/s/o3rjb0/internet_was_designed_with_narrow...