Re: [RRG] Terminology redux

[jnc@mercury.lcs.mit.edu (Noel Chiappa)]

    > From: RJ Atkinson <rja@extremenetworks.com>

    > I'm inclined to agree with Brian C that an IEEE MAC address is an
    > identifier, not a locator. .. there simply is no topology (e.g. routing
    > prefix) encoded into an IEEE MAC. It is just an opaque ID. 

Exactly. One thing I'll add: _what_ it names is an interface, not any higher
level entity (such as an end-end entity like an 'endpoint', as I defined that
term).

There seems to sometimes be a tendency to forget that names have two
important attributes: i) the _form_ of the name (flat identifier,
topologically-significant structured name [e.g. IPv4 address],
organizationally-significant structured name [e.g. DNS name]), and ii) _what_
class of entities it names.

So when one says that a name is an 'identifier', I take that as shorthand for
'opaque flat identifier'. We have also been using it in our discussions here
as shorthand for 'opaque flat endpoint identifier', but it's important to
remember that the term 'identifier' is therefore ambiguous between those two
potential meanings (which is, I believe, the root of the issue Ran and Brian
are responding to here).


    > While I think that an Identity/Location split is one path forward, I
    > don't think it is the only possible path forward.

Any other examples?

    > A number of the threads here seem to derive from differences in the
    > definitions of words, rather than material technical differences.

It has ever been thus... :-)

	Noel

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