[governance] Uni.X to Uni.X .NETworking - Removing ARP - Less is More

[Jim Fleming]

Just like DNS, ARP is not an essential feature, service, protocol, etc.

ARP has locked many people into a mind-set that is more constrained than
simple process-to-process communication or object-to-object communication.

There is no ARP inside of a system. ARP is a kludge that allows one to take
what
some think is a broadcast medium, a LAN, and turn it into point-to-point
circuits.
ARP was needed during early boot-strap phases because the LANs were
expensive
and shared and nodes were also large and expensive main-frames. That is no
longer
the case.

You can now run a wire directly between physical ports that you want to
connect.
Where ARP once created "electric wire", you now can bypass the need for ARP
and use a real wire. Your nodes can communicate because they sit at each end
of
the wire or wireless channel.

ARP locked people in a 32-bit box and narrowed the options, while appearing
on
the surface to expand the capabilities. ARP is one more piece of legacy
baggage that
can be removed. Less is more. ARP is not needed to make the .NET work.

Mysterious problems due to ARP caches and time-outs simply disappear when
ARP
is removed from the code. The code-bloat also disappears. That frees up
space for
more useful (essential) features.

Since ARP is out-side of the 160-bit Uni.X to Uni.X message contents, one
does not
need to know if other people removed it or not. It is a very local decision
and the
problems it can cause are bounded. The restrictions it places on some
end-site nodes
can be subtle.When it is gone, those restrictions also disappear. Less is
more.

ICMP, UDP, TCP and the NOP protocols remain, reworked of course for robust
commercial services. TCP has a slightly different name, and supports the 64
bit addressing.
For some, it may be better to call it Reliable Stream (RS) as opposed to
TCP.
UDP is the simple Data Gram (DG) protocol. It is a very simple extension to
the 160 bit
Uni.X to Uni.X messages that adds more addressing (ports) another length and
yet
another checksum.

ICMP is a complex signalling protocol, that attempts to provide some
out-of-band
signalling de-coupled from the main data streams carried by RS, DG and NOP.
ICMP can be reduced in size and complexity also, but it is hard to remove
completely.
It is inside of the 160 bit message, unlike ARP which is outside of the 160
bit message.

In many of your governance discussions it is very important to know which
bits one
is governing. It is assumed that Computer Professionals with Social
Responsibility will
have an in-depth knowledge of computers and networks. If they do not, that
is very
irresponsible. Imagine nuclear experts allowing people with way too much
time on their
hands to design a new power plant. Citizens would be best advised to move
away or
run if it is turned on. The United States Government has wisely pointed out
that people
with little or no experience in telecommunications will govern the .NET.
That would be
very irresponsible to allow that to happen.

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