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I didn't really like the format of this article. The upfront quiz without much context or insight makes it feel like you're in class for an exam you didn't stud

I didn't really like the format of this article. The upfront quiz without much context or insight makes it feel like you're in class for an exam you didn't study for. The answers they provide are largely just Yes or No. When you get to the meat of the article, the quiz itself is forgotten until the conclusion. In fact, they even mention how useless the quiz is to provide insight at the beginning of the instructive content. > Is it all clear now? Well, probably no. It feels like reverse engineering a black box. So what is happening behind the scenes? Let's take a look. Keeping the quiz format, I think it would've been better to have it at the end then have the answers tie into the concepts you've learned. Or have the questions littered throughout the article and used to build upon the concepts it is teaching you. In its current state, I don't see this article's information having much staying power in my brain without concentrated study of the article.

AstixAndBelix 4y ago
This article is meant for tech people and the purpose of the quiz is make you realize how little you know about the subject even as an expert. This is not a pop-sci youtube video
- ilyt 4y ago
  And it fails at that, all the format is is being annoying, and having to go thru links to random github gists is extra annoying if you didn't know the answer and want to just learn
deleted 4y ago
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dcow 4y ago
Same. I don't want to go run python code to play your little quiz game, sorry. I think the article would be better structured as an explanation of what a connection is, its 5-tuple, and then a dive into any surprising exceptions to the rule that there can be no ambiguity in where a packet is delivered, it must go to exactly one spot on a host. So as long as you can find an unambiguous subset of available 5-tuples, you're allowed to bind/connect.
- loeg 4y ago
  The Python quiz code is easily read as identical to the equivalent syscalls. You can click through to the answers and read them out of the docstrings without ever running a Python interpreter (that's what I did).
  - dcow 4y ago
    It was 7am and I wasn't in the mood to hop back and forth between GH and the blog post trying a bunch of examples and piecing things together. I just wanted to read an interesting writeup. That's all.
    - Dylan16807 4y ago
      > hop back and forth between GH and the blog post trying a bunch of examples The hopping back and forth was intended (and suboptimal) but you were never supposed to try the examples to get the answers.
      - dcow 4y ago
        To each their own. I just didn't like the style. I provided constructive criticism in my initial comment.
        Dylan16807 4y ago
        I'm not defending the style, I'm saying that part of your criticism is mistaken. The answers are there so you don't have to run it. Running it is an option if you want to experiment, not a part of taking the quiz.
- fierro 4y ago
  agreed, the post is missing a clear explanation of what defines a TCP connection
  - jkbs 4y ago
dan-robertson 4y ago
I enjoyed the quiz personally. I was kinda expecting more complicated questions, eg nat, iptables rules selecting local ip / interface, weird networking edge cases and so on.

AstixAndBelix 4y ago

This article is meant for tech people and the purpose of the quiz is make you realize how little you know about the subject even as an expert. This is not a pop-sci youtube video

ilyt 4y ago
And it fails at that, all the format is is being annoying, and having to go thru links to random github gists is extra annoying if you didn't know the answer and want to just learn

deleted 4y ago

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dcow 4y ago

Same. I don't want to go run python code to play your little quiz game, sorry. I think the article would be better structured as an explanation of what a connection is, its 5-tuple, and then a dive into any surprising exceptions to the rule that there can be no ambiguity in where a packet is delivered, it must go to exactly one spot on a host. So as long as you can find an unambiguous subset of available 5-tuples, you're allowed to bind/connect.

loeg 4y ago
The Python quiz code is easily read as identical to the equivalent syscalls. You can click through to the answers and read them out of the docstrings without ever running a Python interpreter (that's what I did).
- dcow 4y ago
  It was 7am and I wasn't in the mood to hop back and forth between GH and the blog post trying a bunch of examples and piecing things together. I just wanted to read an interesting writeup. That's all.
  - Dylan16807 4y ago
    > hop back and forth between GH and the blog post trying a bunch of examples The hopping back and forth was intended (and suboptimal) but you were never supposed to try the examples to get the answers.
    - dcow 4y ago
      To each their own. I just didn't like the style. I provided constructive criticism in my initial comment.
      - Dylan16807 4y ago
        I'm not defending the style, I'm saying that part of your criticism is mistaken. The answers are there so you don't have to run it. Running it is an option if you want to experiment, not a part of taking the quiz.
fierro 4y ago
agreed, the post is missing a clear explanation of what defines a TCP connection
- jkbs 4y ago

dan-robertson 4y ago

I enjoyed the quiz personally. I was kinda expecting more complicated questions, eg nat, iptables rules selecting local ip / interface, weird networking edge cases and so on.