Sorry for the late response -- my laptop was stolen in Stockholm & I'm just getting back to normal :-( > If we are to dismiss the Design Guidelines as a "personal preference" how are they to be taken seriously? They shouldn't be taken _too_ seriously. > I understand that following someone else's design > guidance is not always popular with developers, but following regular design patterns is a well recognized practice > in software engineering, that is > generally attributed with increasing product quality and maintainability.B I think we simply need to "get with the > program" here. I really think that the IETF has enough trouble with protocol engineering w/o setting itself up as a software engineering standards body; indeed, the "waterfall" design process followed (by & large) in the IETF was discredited years ago... _______________________________________________ Ietf@xxxxxxxx https://www.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/ietf