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Dumb question: why was it decided to only provide an unreliable datagram protocol in standard IP transit?
by kmeisthax 2y ago
Dumb question: why was it decided to only provide an unreliable datagram protocol in standard IP transit?
- michaelt 2y agoBecause when you're sending a signal down a wire or through the air, fundamentally the communication medium only provides "Send it, maybe it arrives" At any time, the receiver could lose power. Or a burst of interference could disrupt the radio link. Or a backhoe could slice through the cable. Or many other things. IP merely reflects this physical reality.
- kmeisthax 2y agoOk, but why does TCP exist, then? If we could make streams reliable in the late 1970s why didn't we apply that to datagrams as well?