The end-to-end principle is one of the central design principles of the Internet Protocol (IP) that is the basis of the Internet. It states that, whenever possible, communications protocol operations should be defined to occur at the end-points of a communications system. The Internet Protocol (IP) is a data-oriented protocol used by source and destination hosts for communicating data across a packet-switched internetwork. ... In the field of telecommunications, a communications protocol is the set of standard rules for data representation, signalling, authentication, and error detection required to send information over a communications channel. ...

The concept first arises in a 1981 paper entitled End-to-end arguments in system design by Jerome H. Saltzer, David P. Reed, and David D. Clark. They argue that reliable systems tend to require end-to-end processing to operate correctly, in addition to any processing in intermediate system. They then demonstrate that the end-to-end processing alone would suffice to make the system operate, and that the intermediate processing stages are largely redundant. Given this fact, much intermediate processing can be made simpler, relying on the end-to-end processing to make the system work. This leads to the model of a "dumb network" with smart terminals, a completely different model to the previous paradigm of the smart network with dumb terminals. 1981 is a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... A dumb network is marked by the use of intelligent devices at the periphery that make use of a network that does not interfere with application operation. ... A dumb terminal in computing consists of a computer screen and keyboard, but practically no processing ability. ...

For example, in the TCP/IP protocol stack, IP is a dumb, stateless protocol that simply moves datagrams across the network, and TCP is a smart end-to-end protocol operating between the client computers. The Internet protocol suite is the set of communications protocols that implement the protocol stack on which the Internet runs. ... A protocol stack is a particular software implementation of a computer networking protocol suite. ... A packet is the fundamental unit of information carriage in all modern computer networks. ... The Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) is one of the core protocols of the Internet protocol suite. ...

This paradigm was first made economically possible and then economically inevitable by the collapse in computer prices made possible by microprocessors. Microprocessors, including an Intel 80486DX2 and an Intel 80386 A microprocessor (abbreviated as µP or uP) is an electronic computer central processing unit (CPU) made from miniaturized transistors and other circuit elements on a single semiconductor integrated circuit (IC) (aka microchip or just chip). ...

Reference

• Jerome H. Saltzer, David P. Reed, and David D. Clark. End-to-end arguments in system design. ACM Transactions on Computer Systems 2, 4 (November 1984) pages 277-288. An earlier version appeared in the Second International Conference on Distributed Computing Systems (April, 1981) pages 509-512.

See also

• The Rise of the Stupid Network

Anyway, here goes the article lifted from the Journal of the Hyperlinked Organization Website Rise of the Stupid Network by:David Isenberg - isen@isen. ...

External links

• http://web.mit.edu/Saltzer/www/publications/endtoend/endtoend.pdf
• http://web.mit.edu/Saltzer/www/publications/endtoend/endtoend.txt
• http://web.mit.edu/Saltzer/www/publications/endtoend/ANe2ecomment.html