4 ms·

I'd figure the inefficiency cost of ascii vs binary http headers over yottabytes of packets every year would add up. It hurts your bandwidth, it wastes electric

by zanny 13y ago

I'd figure the inefficiency cost of ascii vs binary http headers over yottabytes of packets every year would add up. It hurts your bandwidth, it wastes electricity on the wire, and it wastes processing power. An insignificant smidgen on average, but add it up and it would probably be substantial. That is always my stance on things - if one computer is going to run something, write it in python, make it bleed memory, just make it work. If it is going to run on a million, you have to consider the raw power waste of inefficient programming. If it is going to run on trillions of devices for decades, your choices are few in my mind.

smsm42 13y ago
Yottabytes only come into play if everybody switches. But complexity of binary protocols would work against that. So probably only very large sites would implement it - and even for them, is parsing HTTP costs that much? >>> If it is going to run on trillions of devices for decades, your choices are few in my mind. The history suggests otherwise - majority of mass-produced software is not written with performance as an ultimate concern. You would find a lot of software written in languages like Python or Java, even though using C or assembly would probably produce better performance. But using C or assembly that software would probably never be produced because its complexity would be harder to manage. Of course, performance does matter - even writing in Python, you have to worry about performance. But here we effectively see an argument saying "since we have a lot of software in Python, if we switch it to C we'll have massive performance gains". I think it is a wrong line of argument, if we switch to C a lot of this software wouldn't be written. (Note it's not against Python or C - I use both and they both are great in their areas :) So I guess optimized protocol does have its uses for high-volume websites - but I am concerned its advantages would be offset by its complexity. The designation of it as HTTP/2.0 implies it is the next version of HTTP - but it's rather a rather different thing with different use case. I'd rather have it as a separate protocol for high-traffic websites.
- neuroscr 13y ago
  Amen! Efficiency to who's standards or values? It's a financial issue for big Internet but what's the real values cost the rest of the Internet? It's obviously a minimal financial costs, as everyone I know that wants to publish can. Why sacrifice durability, readability, and the original core values of the Internet for saving "big dollars" from "big providers"?

by zanny 13y ago

smsm42 13y ago

Yottabytes only come into play if everybody switches. But complexity of binary protocols would work against that. So probably only very large sites would implement it - and even for them, is parsing HTTP costs that much? >>> If it is going to run on trillions of devices for decades, your choices are few in my mind. The history suggests otherwise - majority of mass-produced software is not written with performance as an ultimate concern. You would find a lot of software written in languages like Python or Java, even though using C or assembly would probably produce better performance. But using C or assembly that software would probably never be produced because its complexity would be harder to manage. Of course, performance does matter - even writing in Python, you have to worry about performance. But here we effectively see an argument saying "since we have a lot of software in Python, if we switch it to C we'll have massive performance gains". I think it is a wrong line of argument, if we switch to C a lot of this software wouldn't be written. (Note it's not against Python or C - I use both and they both are great in their areas :) So I guess optimized protocol does have its uses for high-volume websites - but I am concerned its advantages would be offset by its complexity. The designation of it as HTTP/2.0 implies it is the next version of HTTP - but it's rather a rather different thing with different use case. I'd rather have it as a separate protocol for high-traffic websites.

neuroscr 13y ago
Amen! Efficiency to who's standards or values? It's a financial issue for big Internet but what's the real values cost the rest of the Internet? It's obviously a minimal financial costs, as everyone I know that wants to publish can. Why sacrifice durability, readability, and the original core values of the Internet for saving "big dollars" from "big providers"?