RequestForComments

The Requests for Comments (RFC) are a series of writings about the Internet. RFCs discuss computer communication, network protocols, and other topics (including humor). You can get them at http://www.rfc-editor.org/,

or look at

http://sunsite.cnlab-switch.ch/ftp/doc/standard/rfc/mini-index.html if you know

the number.

There are several important RfC's:

• 2821: SMTP

• 2616: HTTP 1.1

• ...

(please correct if wrong.)

Also, there are some AprilFoolsDay RfC's.

• 1149: IP over avian carriers

• 2549: IP over avian carriers with QoS

• ....

see also: http://directory.google.com/Top/Recreation/Humor/Computer/RFCs/

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The InternetEngineeringTaskForce submits Internet specification documents as RFCs. Thus, many Internet Standards end up as RFCs.

The RFC process seems to document standards after they emerge as standards. This is in contrast to the WorldWideWebConsortium (http://www.w3.org) strategy which seems to define the standard first and wait for the market to catch up.

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See: http://www.rfc-editor.org/ to search for and read RFCs.