[Cryptography] [cryptography] Is it time for a revolution to replace TLS?

[Christian Huitema]

> So, when a HTTP request goes from client to server, is it a datagram or
> a stream?
>
> It's a datagram.  Because we know precisely how long it is.  What comes
> back is also datagram, as it is a precise length, and indeed there is an
> internal length header so as to make it easier.

"Datagram" relates to the transport of data as independent units. Louis
Pouzin coined the name as an opposition to the connection model in which a
path is first established and then a series of data packets streamed over
it, as in for example X.25 virtual circuits. 

As a transport concept, a datagram is pretty much "an independent unit of
transmission." There is well established design rule that for efficient
network transmission, the unit of control shall also be the unit of
transmission, otherwise you get the very inefficient behavior of resending
many packets because a single one was lost.

A web page typically does not fit in "a single unit of transmission," and
treating it as a unit of control and retransmission would be seriously
inefficient. 

-- Christian Huitema