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From: enag@ifi.uio.no (Erik Naggum)
Newsgroups: comp.protocols.iso
Subject: Re: Help on ASN.1
Message-ID: <ENAG.90Aug21200724@svarte.ifi.uio.no>
Date: 21 Aug 90 18:07:30 GMT
References: <5594@ethz.UUCP> <59051@bbn.BBN.COM>
Sender: enag@ifi.uio.no (Erik Naggum)
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In-Reply-To: craig@bbn.com's message of 21 Aug 90 12:31:48 GMT
Originator: enag@svarte.ifi.uio.no

In article <59051@bbn.BBN.COM> craig@bbn.com (Craig Partridge) writes:

   First, read the ISO versions of the CCITT standards -- much, much
   more readable.  They're ISO 8824 and 8825.

Hrmph!  CCITT standards come in varying colors, a new one every fourth
year.  The Red Book (1984) was a literary disaster, a blot on the
history of prose, etc, and I mean the _entire_ Red Book.  "What we
have here is a failure to communicate" style.  I was somewhat hesitant
to buy more of these standards, but bought X.400 (1988) for the fun of
it.  Then guess what?

The Blue Book (1988) is very light, casual reading, compared to the
Red Book.  You still have to cope with 400+ definitions of terms in
some of the more technical standards, but it is written by humans, for
humans, not by cyborgs for other cyborgs with their personalities
coded in CHILL.  I have since bought two feet of Blue Books, and enjoy
reading about things I've wondered about since I was a kid.

If the CCITT folks had any marketing skills, they would place
flourescent stickers on the Blue Book:  NEW AND IMPROVED!  Instead,
they go like this:

	The CCITT,

	considering

	(1) that the previous version of its Recommendations were not
	    easily readable,

	(2) that much study has gone into formulating the ideas
	    contained therein in better ways,

	(3) that several ideas needed to be expounded upon in greater
	    detail,

	(4) that Administrations will need to distribute more copies
	    of CCITT Recommendations to the public, due to increased
	    interest in CCITT matters,

	unanimously declares the view

	 -  that the present version is new and improved.


And, lest people be confused, ISO 8824 + amendment 1 is identical to
CCITT Blue Book X.208, and ISO 8825 + amendment 1 is identical to
CCITT Blue Book X.209.  The CCITT versions come in a nice soft-cover
book, and you can buy four copies of this book for the price of the
ISO standards, including amendments.  The book contains half of the
X.200 series, including service definitions.  Very useful.
--
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