Re: [sitefinder-tech-discuss] Pseudo code please

[Kee Hinckley <nazgul@somewhere.com>]

At 11:57 AM -0700 10/16/03, Karl Auerbach wrote:
>  > I'd like to see some pseudo code.
> >  1. Given a host name in .com/.net, determine whether the host really exists.
>
> That's an ambiguous question.  For example, some of my computers are
> visible from certain IP addresses only on certain TCP or UDP ports and are
> (hopefully) completely invisible from other IP addresses.

It would be ambiguous (or at least indeterminable) if I asked to know 
whether I could connect to it.  But what I want to know is whether or 
not there is an entry in someone's DNS for this particular host at 
this particular domain that is not due to a TLD wildcard.

The issue I'm trying to solve is the same one that Verisign claims is 
important--providing a better experience for the user.  The user just 
gave me the name of a host.  I'd like to first make sure that there 
is a *chance* of talking to it, before I sit there for N seconds 
attempting a connection.  And I most certainly want to give them a 
different error for a typo than for the case where it is unreachable 
or not running the desired service.  Additionally, I want to provide 
that information immediately, not after a connection attempt (which 
may be made by some other program I have no control over).

Not rocket science.  Just basic UI work.  But Verisign wants to break 
the current mechanism, so I'm asking them to supply a reliable fix.


--
Kee Hinckley
http://www.messagefire.com/         Next Generation Spam Defense
http://commons.somewhere.com/buzz/  Writings on Technology and Society

I'm not sure which upsets me more: that people are so unwilling to accept
responsibility for their own actions, or that they are so eager to regulate
everyone else's.

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