Path: utzoo!censor!geac!yunexus!davecb
From: davecb@yunexus.UUCP (David Collier-Brown)
Newsgroups: news.config
Subject: Improving DEDICATED,HOURLY, etc (was Warp speed Mr. Scott!)
Message-ID: <3612@yunexus.UUCP>
Date: 6 Sep 89 12:32:52 GMT
References: <1989Aug21.124002.11054@robohack.uucp> <1059@aurora.AthabascaU.CA> <3872@ditka.UUCP> <7561@cloud9.Stratus.COM>
Organization: York U. Computing Services
Lines: 35

cme@cloud9.Stratus.COM (Carl Ellison) writes:
>	re. DEDICATED, DIRECT, HOURLY, POLLED, ....
>It sure does seem ad hoc.
>Has anyone considered enriching the format definition [...]

  Time for my semi-annual rant about versioning (:-)) again.

  Seriously, though, one can radically change the system if and only if
there is an information-preserving transformation from the old system to the
new.  If not, you have to introduce an incompatable change and a managment
mechanism for that (version numbers).

  Let us define a new set { DEDICATED, DIRECT, HOURLY, POLLED, ...} that
corresponds to a set of expected delays.  That is a compatable change (even
a reversable one), and could be changed on any site independantly.  A
project for your spare time...

  On the other hand, how about a set {DEDICATED, LOCAL_NET, DEMAND_DIALED,
AVAILABLE_AT_EXTRA_COST, MAIL_TAPE ...} that corresponds to a set of
cost-speed pairs.  That's an incompatable change, and needs a new map line,
like
	#V	costs 2.1
to say you're using an incompatable metric, and people using the old metric
need to insert a sed script that back-translates the costs into your map-
unpacker.

  The former is easy: the latter can be a pain to the other sites if the
inventor doesn't provide a "full toolkit" along with her invention.

--dave
-- 
David Collier-Brown,  | davecb@yunexus, ...!yunexus!davecb or
72 Abitibi Ave.,      | {toronto area...}lethe!dave 
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CANADA. 416-223-8968  |    He's so smart he's dumb.