NetNotes

The original TCP specification

This is an interesting read that i found recently - the original proposed specification for the TCP protocol. It’s a presentation by Vint Serf and Robert Kahn from 1974, when during the IEEE transaction of communcations they propose a design of a new protocol for packet switched communication.  It’s called “A protocol for packet network intercommunication” and is interesting in terms of the initial plans of the protocol. Initially it includes only a TCP protocol, with the separation of functionality between TCP and IP to follow later.  It’s quite interesting to see some forecasted problems and quite a few differences from the current protocol state, including for example the proposed address space size.

Tags: IP, TCP, TCP/IP