Re: "Last Look" at the RADIUS Design Guidelines document

[Alan DeKok <aland@deployingradius.com>]

Avi Lior wrote:
> When one receives a string that one has to parse then it requires code change - or specific code to parse the string.

  Code changes are not all the same.

> A complex attribute is no different then a string.

  What ever happened to "KISS"?

> In fact code change is required anytime one has to process any attribute beyond simply transporting the message to the next hop.  Whether  it is at the client, the proxy or the server.

 In fact, bits are exchanged when a client talks to a server, and all
bits are equal.  So DNS packets (composed of bits) are interchangeable
with RADIUS packets (composed of bits).

  Hmm... there's a logical fallacy in that argument...

> I dont understand ( i never understood) what is the objection around this!!!!

  The objection I have to your arguments is that they argue against a
position that is not reflected in the document.  They impose a false
dichotomy by treating all code changes identically.

  The document says this:  Simplicity is preferred to complexity.
Complexity is acceptable in some circumstances.  Complex changes have
higher risk than simple changes.

  There has been *major* opposition to these statements.  The push seems
to be that we should have no preference between complexity and
simplicity, because all code changes are equal, and complex systems are
no different than simple ones.

  50 years of computer science practice shows this argument to be false.

  If you have found a way to make complex changes no more expensive or
risky than simple changes, you have discovered practices that will
revolutionize computer science, and will make you personally wealthy.

  Alan DeKok.

--
to unsubscribe send a message to radiusext-request@ops.ietf.org with
the word 'unsubscribe' in a single line as the message text body.
archive: <http://psg.com/lists/radiusext/>