[ih] mssage vs. packet (was: Re: Early Internet history)

[Dave Crocker]

> Kleinrock's analysis was for message switching but the mathematics of 
> message switching and packet switching are essentially comparable 
> especially when you consider variable length messages.


Howdy.

A question to the group...

That distinction coincidentally surfaced in a discussion a couple of 
months ago, after some decades of my not hearing it.

I know what it meant on the Arpanet.  And I know what wikipedia and some 
other entries say about it.  But while the ability to handle smaller 
chunks independently -- and even in an overlapping manner -- encourages 
some useful performance improvements, I find myself generally thinking 
of them as the same category of communications technology.

Namely:  Discrete segments of data being handled through a network. 
Certainly for some form of multiplexing and possibly with dynamic 
routing.  (These days, we'd take stat mux and dynamic routing as 
inherent, but my recollection is that 45 years ago, those were 
variations being played with.)

I'm not looking to re-start the religious wars on the distinction but am 
curious whether, from the perspective of those 45 years and global 
scaling, it is fair to have most discussions -- I emphasize most, not 
all -- treat them as the same construct?

If not, why not?


d/
-- 
Dave Crocker
Brandenburg InternetWorking
bbiw.net