I don't think that the concept of ASN.1 is as bad as Jeff makes out. If it worked then ASN.1 would be very very usefull. But is just plain don't. ASN.1 is worse than useless, it means that a very good idea is rendered unusable because of a baddly botched implementation. The ambiguities of the ASN.1 spec are at least as bad as Jeff makes out. I have attempted to implement an ASN.1 compiler but I have little cofidence in its correctness because the structure of ASN.1 is so unweildy. It is not just ANY that causes problems, IMPLICIT is a complete cock up. ASN.1 is poor because it is unecessarily complex, has little intelectual coherence and has been extended in a manner which conflicts with the original design principle. Is it any coincidence that ASN.1 backwards is the name of a well known organisation? Also the only person who has defended ASN.1 to my face happened to work for that organisation once. So the motto is: ASN.1 - Just say NO! Phill