# The Robustness Principle Reconsidered

<http://cacm.acm.org/magazines/2011/8/114933-the-robustness-principle-reconsidered/fulltext>

- Host: [cacm.acm.org](https://links.thingelstad.xyz/hosts/cacm.acm.org/)
- Saved: July 28, 2011 (2011-07-28T09:19:59Z)
- Record: https://links.thingelstad.xyz/links/f7907bdfe153/
- JSON: https://links.thingelstad.xyz/links/f7907bdfe153.json

## From the page (probably an excerpt, not Jamie's words)

In 1981, Jon Postel formulated the Robustness Principle, also known as Postel's Law, as a fundamental implementation guideline for the then-new TCP. The intent of the Robustness Principle was to maximize interoperability between network service implementations, particularly in the face of ambiguous or incomplete specifications. If every implementation of some service that generates some piece of protocol did so using the most conservative interpretation of the specification and every implementation that accepted that piece of protocol interpreted it using the most generous interpretation, then the chance that the two services would be able to talk with each other would be maximized. Experience with the Arpanet had shown that getting independently developed implementations to interoperate was difficult, and since the Internet was expected to be much larger than the Arpanet, the old ad hoc methods needed to be enhanced.

## Facts

- Kind: [Page](https://links.thingelstad.xyz/kinds/page/)

## Same host

- [Lessons from Building Static Analysis Tools at Google | April 2018 | Communications of the ACM](https://links.thingelstad.xyz/links/376ca29ff6d9/) (cacm.acm.org, May 2, 2018)
- [A Look at the Design of Lua | November 2018 | Communications of the ACM](https://links.thingelstad.xyz/links/a2c8ee17dab3/) (cacm.acm.org, November 4, 2018)
- [10 Things Software Developers Should Learn about Learning | January 2024 | Communications of the ACM](https://links.thingelstad.xyz/links/e62890c99d3a/) (cacm.acm.org, January 1, 2024)
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## Saved the same week

- [prefs.org](https://links.thingelstad.xyz/links/3d11af0c3965/) (prefs.org, July 27, 2011)
- [Senator: AT&T/T-Mobile merger an "unreasonable risk to the economy"](https://links.thingelstad.xyz/links/c18a2ccf1572/) (arstechnica.com, July 28, 2011)
- [Around The World and Back Again: Violated: A traveler’s lost faith, a difficult lesson learned](https://links.thingelstad.xyz/links/d778f9bb7412/) (ejroundtheworld.blogspot.com, July 28, 2011)
- [HTTP Pipelining](https://links.thingelstad.xyz/links/30d7dbbcd6be/) (guypo.com, July 28, 2011)
- [Making it easier to create and manage Test Users](https://links.thingelstad.xyz/links/d1a1089b85dd/) (developers.facebook.com, July 28, 2011)

## Elsewhere

- Wayback Machine: https://web.archive.org/web/*/http://cacm.acm.org/magazines/2011/8/114933-the-robustness-principle-reconsidered/fulltext