Subject: [xrblock] Octal?

From: Glen Zorn <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 19 Apr 2012 10:32:42 +0700

Just out of curiosity, is there some reason why the block diagrams is 
some (but not all) of the WG drafts are numbered in octal?  For example, 
from draft-ietf-xrblock-rtcp-xr-discard-rle-metrics-03.txt:

        0               1               2               3
        0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
       |     BT=DRLE |rsvd |E|   T   |         block length          |
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
       |                        SSRC of source                         |
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
       |          begin_seq            |             end_seq           |
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
       |          chunk 1              |             chunk 2           |
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
       :                              ...                              :
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
       |          chunk n-1            |             chunk n           |
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

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From: Varun Singh <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 19 Apr 2012 09:45:22 +0300

Hi Glen,

It is for readability reasons because it shows byte boundaries and
easy to identify bits in a byte.

Cheers,
Varun

On Thu, Apr 19, 2012 at 06:32, Glen Zorn <[email-masked]> wrote:
> Just out of curiosity, is there some reason why the block diagrams is some
> (but not all) of the WG drafts are numbered in octal?  For example, from
> draft-ietf-xrblock-rtcp-xr-discard-rle-metrics-03.txt:
>
>       0               1               2               3
> _______________________________________________
> xrblock mailing list
> [email-masked]
> https://www.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/xrblock

-- 
http://www.netlab.tkk.fi/~varun/

---

From: Glen Zorn <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 19 Apr 2012 19:35:26 +0700

> easy to identify bits in a byte.

LOL!  But seriously, anybody know why?

>
> Cheers,
> Varun
>
> On Thu, Apr 19, 2012 at 06:32, Glen Zorn<[email-masked]>  wrote:

---

From: Qin Wu <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 20 Apr 2012 09:22:12 +0800

Hi,
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Glen Zorn" <[email-masked]>
To: "Varun Singh" <[email-masked]>
Cc: "xrblock" <[email-masked]>
Sent: Thursday, April 19, 2012 8:35 PM
Subject: Re: [xrblock] Octal?

> LOL!  But seriously, anybody know why?

[Qin]: Ususally the report block's length is a multiple of 4
octets. Also we can say the length of report block is in
32 bit words. They are equivalent.

---

From: Glen Zorn <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 20 Apr 2012 09:15:16 +0700

> 32 bit words. They are equivalent.
Mathematically, yes, they are equivalent, and for uber-geeks, I'm sure 
that octal is much easier to read than the pedestrian decimal with which 
the rest of the world is familiar.  If we must display our geekiness in 
this way, however, is consistency too much to ask?  If you're going to 
label the diagrams in octal, then discuss them the same way: don't make 
people switch bases.

For example, it is clear from the diagram that a report block is _not_ a 
multiple of 32-bit words, it is a multiple of 0o40 (or 040 or q40 or 
\040, pick your notation) -bit words.

---

From: Qin Wu <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 20 Apr 2012 11:16:53 +0800

Hi,
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Glen Zorn" <[email-masked]>
To: "Qin Wu" <[email-masked]>
Cc: "xrblock" <[email-masked]>
Sent: Friday, April 20, 2012 10:15 AM
Subject: Re: [xrblock] Octal?

> \040, pick your notation) -bit words.

[Qin]: "32-bit words" is widely used in RFC3611.
However I have never seen a multiple of 0o40 being used before in anyplace although I know
0o40 is still equivalent to 32 bit. Maybe I am ignorant.:-)

Another point is following the constraint for report block defined in RFC3611, 
each report block should be multiple 32 bit words long.
This can be met by containing some additional padding 
octets at the end of that report block if that report block is not
in 32-bit words.

---

From: Glen Zorn <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 20 Apr 2012 11:29:52 +0700

> 0o40 is still equivalent to 32 bit. Maybe I am ignorant.:-)

And I've never seen a packet diagram labelled in octal.