
The Robustness Principle Reconsidered (2011) - rrauenza
https://queue.acm.org/detail.cfm?id=1999945
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olavk
HTML shows the downsides to the robustness principle. Any lenience in
interpreting the spec will lead to a de-facto standard which in turn will make
it harder to create new implementations: It is not enough to follow the spec,
you also have to reverse-engineer existing implementations.

Only solution is to leave no room for undefined behavior in the spec.

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fapjacks
In fact, you may be surprised to learn that there are not only two, but
actually _three_ universal certainties: Death, taxes, and the sendmail guy
wishing for stricter protocols.

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ncmncm
This policy has been a security disaster. Besides the obvious problems with
undefined behaviors, it has made evolving protocols to fix problems often
impossible.

