[ppml] Policy Proposal 2005-9: 4-Byte AS Number

[Owen DeLong]

> I don't believe that "2-byte ASN" and "4-byte ASN" constitute obscure
> terminology.  Anyone tangentially familiar with Internet terminology knows
> what a byte is, and can figure out the most important differences between
> ASNs of 2 vs. 4 bytes in length.  However, if a reader is unclear as to
> the meaning of those terms, he needs only read six lines of the policy to
> fully understand them in plain English (decimal) terms.
> 
While I agree in principle, and, do not advocate rewording the policy
in terms of integer ranges, I do think it would be an improvement to
speak in terms of 16 bit and 32 bit.  After all, while the term byte
these days usually refers to an octet or 8 bits, this has not always
been true.  In fact, the term byte actually can mean anywhere between
5 and 9 bits, depending on machine architecture, encoding scheme,
etc.  Byte has never been an unambiguous term.  This is one of the
reasons almost every RFC is written in terms of bits and octets
and use of the term byte is rare indeed.

Owen



-- 
If it wasn't crypto-signed, it probably didn't come from me.
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