Hi - >From: Miles Fidelman <mfidelman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> >Sent: May 26, 2014 7:18 PM >To: ietf@xxxxxxxx >Subject: Re: inquiry re. the state of protocol R&D > >I have to vehemently disagree. To me, APIs are a step in the wrong >direction. > >Protocol specs - framed as PDU formats and state machine models - >present a basis for interoperability and distributed operation. APIs are >language-specific, and all too often are tied to a >centralized/client-server model of the world. A big step backwards. It depends on what folks mean by "APIs". My experience in the IETF is that when the term is used here it frequently does *not* mean "language binding", even though that seems to be the term's usual sense outside the IETF. The sense here frequently seems to be something more akin to "service definition" and not tied to a specific language binding, but I haven't seen it rigorously spelled out here. The SNMPv3 work did define internal "ASIs" (abstract service interfaces) helpful in characterizing necessary computations behind protocol behavior, but these don't describe the services provided by the protocol in a way that would be particularly helpful to its users, whether human or software. Randy