Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ucbvax!asylum.sf.ca.us!romkey
From: romkey@asylum.sf.ca.us (John Romkey)
Newsgroups: comp.protocols.tcp-ip
Subject: Subnet Broadcasting
Message-ID: <9006121814.AA07792@asylum.sf.ca.us>
Date: 13 Jun 90 01:14:11 GMT
References: <9006121854.AA01650@rp.Wellfleet.Com>
Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU
Reply-To: romkey@asylum.sf.ca.us
Organization: The Internet
Lines: 11

There are a couple of reasons why all 0's is a bad idea. One is
historical reasons; old versions of the BSD code used to use all 0's
as the broadcast address.

Another reason is to help screen out bugs. An uninitialized value will
often default to 0, so from a technical perspective it's often a good
idea to avoid using 0 as a magic number, like a subnet number or such.
			- john romkey
USENET/UUCP: romkey@asylum.sf.ca.us	Internet: romkey@ftp.com
"There is no loyalty except loyalty to the party. There is no love except love
of Big Brother. All competing pleasures we will destroy." - 1984 (film)