tlug: Re: djb [was: ibm.net with LINUX (Red Hat)]

["Stephen J. Turnbull" <turnbull@example.com>]

>>>>> "Rex" == Rex Walters <rex@example.com> writes:

    Rex> On Tue, Aug 11, 1998 at 03:34:41PM +0900, Stephen J. Turnbull
    Rex> wrote:
    >> qmail's author unfortunately is enough of a blowhard that I
    >> don't know that I trust his abilities, although some other
    >> people I know vouch for his competence, as well as his
    >> confidence.

    Rex> Like some other highly intelligent people I know <eyes raised
    Rex> to the ceiling>

Why are you looking at me?[1]

    Rex> Regardless, it's a mistake to judge his code by his
    Rex> personality or which sides he takes in a debate.  I'm no
    Rex> expert, so judge for yourself, but I've never come across
    Rex> more robust code in my career.  It takes a while to grok his
    Rex> code because he rarely uses standard idioms and libraries
    Rex> (witness his "substdio" library) but the stuff he writes is
    Rex> secure and rock solid reliable.

When you don't have time to grok code (read "lazy" if you want), and
the code doesn't use standard idioms, reliability is hard to judge.
"It's my code so it's good" doesn't build confidence until I have
independent corroboration....

    Rex> His approach to protocol design is equally dependable --
    Rex> rather than develop protocols that work correctly only if
    Rex> everyone follows the spec to the T, he advocates designing
    Rex> protocols that work correctly even if implementors just
    Rex> follow examples and code to "common practice" (ref:
    Rex> http://pobox.com/~djb/proto/design.html).

Problem with that approach is that protocols interact, and there are
legacy systems issues as well.  'Nuff said, until I've read the
reference you've so thoughtfully provided.  (I don't use search
engines anymore, I just read tlug ;-)


Footnotes: 
[1]  Just couldn't resist!

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