[Cryptography] DIME // Pending Questions // Seeking Your Input

[Ladar Levison]

On 3/1/2015 7:47 AM, Phillip Hallam-Baker wrote:
> Pretty much the whole Web Services world is going to JSON because it
> is a simple data model that is widely supported. Unlike XML there is
> pretty much only one way to serialize a data stream on the wire rather
> than fifty.
>
> Which is why some of us suggested that we would like a binary encoding
> for the JSON data model so that an encoder could emit either and a
> decoder could read either.

You hit the issue on the head. JSON is common with web services, but
isn't typically used for protocols involving thick, desktop/mobile
applications. JSON-RPC web services typically use a different paradigm
than the line based protocols our mail clients use today. I have no clue
what developers would prefer, a stateless JSON-RPC protocol that is
radically different from IMAP, or a more line based protocol that looks
and feels like IMAP.

Just a random thought. You jumped on JSON as the data format, which is
slightly different than JSON-RPC as the protocol paradigm. It got me
thinking that we could keep the protocol line based, but use JSON
objects for sending/receiving structured data. Thoughts?

As for binary, I figured it would be an optional protocol extension,
just like it is with the current mail protocols.

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