protocol

(Redirected from Protocol)

A protocol is the "language" chosen to communicate between two computers in networks.

Popular protocols include:

IP Internet Protocol

TCP Transmission Control

HTTP Hypertext Transfer

FTP File Transfer

Telnet Simple Remote Shell

SSH Secure Shell

UDP Universal Datagram (Raw)

POP3 Post Office (Mailbox)

SMTP Simple Mail Transfer (sendmail)

Jabber open source instant messages

IRC internet relay chat

and others ... (add here)

	This is the JargonFile ^(V4.00) entry for protocol - Next: provocative maintenance, Prev: proprietary
:protocol: /n./ As used by hackers, this never refers to niceties about the proper form for addressing letters to the Papal Nuncio or the order in which one should use the forks in a Russian-style place setting; hackers dont care about such things. It is used instead to describe any set of rules that allow different machines or pieces of software to coordinate with each other without ambiguity. So, for example, it does include niceties about the proper form for addressing packets on a network or the order in which one should use the forks in the Dining Philosophers Problem. It implies that there is some common message format and an accepted set of primitives or commands that all parties involved understand, and that transactions among them follow predictable logical sequences. See also handshaking, do protocol.
* (text is auto-included via JargonExtension by mutante using jargon with VERSION 4.0.0, 24 JUL 1996 - JargonFile by Eric S. Raymond is in the public domain)