Subject: RE: Pretty clear ... SIP

From: "Eric Burger" <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 25 Aug 2003 06:30:42 -0400

So here's the nightmare scenario: X.693 (XER - XML Encoding Rules for ASN.1).

You get the "best" of ASN.1 and XML -- undecipherable ASCII text with lots of angle brackets :-)

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Karl Auerbach [mailto:[email-masked]]
> Sent: Sun, August 24, 2003 9:12 PM
> To: Dean Anderson
> Cc: IETF
> Subject: Re: Pretty clear ... SIP
> 
> 
> 
> > > It has been my experience that ASN.1, no matter which 
> encoding rules are
> > > used, has proven to be a failure and lingering 
> interoperability and
> > > denial-of-service disaster.
> 
> I think the nugget of our discussion is the old, and probably
> unanswerable, question of what is the proper balance between present
> function and future (unforeseen) extension.
> 
> Back in the 1970's I met a very smart system designer.  He drew a
> distinction between "intricate" and "complicated".  A fine 
> watch with many
> moving parts could be intricate as being a well engineered 
> solution to a
> specific problem, while a Rube Goldberg timepiece could be 
> complicated and
> not well engineered.  The difference being the fact that unnecessary
> elements are elided from an intricate solution unless there 
> is a specific
> articulated reason to leave them in.
> 
> ASN.1 (along with other general purpose encoders such as XML) carry a 
> heavy burden of machinery that is present whether it is 
> needed or used or 
> not.
[snip]