ASN.1 and Kerberos version 5
hallam at w3.org
hallam at w3.org
Sun Sep 3 12:52:12 PDT 1995
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
More information about the cypherpunks-legacy
mailing list