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RE: going back to stone axes



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To: Carl Ellison; spki
From: FreedmanJ on Wed, Feb 28, 1996 2:04 PM
Subject: RE: going back to stone axes
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Date: Wed, 28 Feb 1996 13:42:14 -0500
To: "FreedmanJ" <FreedmanJ@mail.ndhm.gtegsc.com>
From: cme@cybercash.com (Carl Ellison)
Subject: RE: going back to stone axes
Cc: "spki" <spki@c2.org>



>The main problem with ASN.1, for my purposes, is that it isn't close enough
>to any real target programming language's data structure definition
>constructs to invoke the programmer's training -- looking ahead to packing,
>parsing and using structures and wanting to do so efficiently and simply.
>
>For example, a small extension to PASCAL's type definitions [and
>a restriction, leaving out any mechanisms which permit overlays [a la FORTRAN
>EQUIVALENCE]] should properly invoke the programmer in people and prevent
>the encouragement to define structures which are ugly to work with.

> - Carl

   I have no problem with any of this - I only support ASN1 because I don't
like reinventing the wheel but, I'd do it for a good enough reason- my
thoughts are to have a modified, "fixed" asn1 along with understandable,
implementable, distinguished and canonical encoding rules. By that I mean a
set of encoding rules that have the property that DER is supposed to have - a
encodable structure would have only one encoding. If the language is modified
PASCAL, and if the encoding has 16 bit length fields, then so be it as long as
the encoding is "distinguished". At this level of discussion those are details