Robustness principle
The robustness principle ( Postel's Law , English Postel's Law ) is a concept from the development of Internet standards . It is often attributed to Internet pioneer Jonathan Postel who wrote it in paragraph 2.10. of RFC 761 (concerns the Transmission Control Protocol ) in the following way:
"Be conservative in what you do, be liberal in what you accept from others"
"Be strict about what you do and be open about what you accept from others"
According to this recommendation, implementations of Internet standards should adhere as closely as possible to existing recommendations and standards without expecting this approach from other parties involved. Contrary to a common misunderstanding, this should not mean that entries should no longer be checked for incorrectness , but only that they should not lead to errors for the recipient. “ Software should be written to deal with every conceivable error, no matter how unlikely ” (German: “Software should be written in such a way that it can deal with every imaginable error, no matter how unlikely it is”).
Web links
- Jon Postel : RFC 761 . - Transmission Control Protocol . January 1980. (Updated by RFC 7805 - English).
- Overview of the development of the robustness principle (English)