Gzuuus on Nostr: Don't worry, I learnt that a little ago: descriptive protocols describe how a system ...
Don't worry, I learnt that a little ago: descriptive protocols describe how a system currently works, while prescriptive protocols define how a system should work.
Descriptive protocols SHOULD document existing behaviour, while prescriptive protocols specify the required standards and rules for interoperability.
There is a balance between descriptiveness and prescriptiveness, neither is entirely appropriate on its own. Some parts of the protocol can be descriptive, while others make more sense if they are prescriptive. However, I've heard many times that stuff of you shouldn't be prescriptive because that limits the possible and potential use cases, while that's true is not always thr best, and finally is leading us to a lack of consistency and constant breaking changes
Published at
2025-06-13 15:08:06Event JSON
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"content": "Don't worry, I learnt that a little ago: descriptive protocols describe how a system currently works, while prescriptive protocols define how a system should work.\n\nDescriptive protocols SHOULD document existing behaviour, while prescriptive protocols specify the required standards and rules for interoperability.\n\nThere is a balance between descriptiveness and prescriptiveness, neither is entirely appropriate on its own. Some parts of the protocol can be descriptive, while others make more sense if they are prescriptive. However, I've heard many times that stuff of you shouldn't be prescriptive because that limits the possible and potential use cases, while that's true is not always thr best, and finally is leading us to a lack of consistency and constant breaking changes",
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