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0 pointstremon4y ago0 comments

I can't confirm nor deny any claims about protocol age, but still want to point out that the RFC numbering only indicates the order in which these protocols were standardized (or at least proposed for standardization), not when they were first used.

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2 comments · 1 top-level

technothrasher4y ago· 1 in thread

Sure, and they both had several predecessors. But everything sort of blends together if you don't pick a specific point to define when a protocol 'begins'. Standardization through RFC seems like the best choice for the core internet protocols.

zinekeller4y ago

Nope, SMTP is the older one. RFC 821 standardized SMTP, RFC 760 created IPv4, and in fact if you read RFC 801 it required a switchover from the previous Network Control Protocol (NCP) to then-new TCP/IP on the start of 1983. As the grandparent points out:

> RFC numbering only indicates the order in which these protocols were standardized (or at least proposed for standardization), not when they were first used.

Even today, many things are de-facto implemented before standardized so I personally don't think that it's correct to look at the RFC date as the date to consider.

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