OH: “What is it about DNS that people find so difficult?

[mdreid@mastodon.social]

OH: “What is it about DNS that people find so difficult? It’s just cache invalidation and naming things.”

[mdreid@mastodon.social]

For the non-computer-science folks confused by this: these, along with off-by-one errors, are commonly described as the “two hardest problems in computer science”.

[netopwibby@social.coop]

@mdreid @cory And bulletproof boots for those foot guns that keep appearing in your hands.

[danhugo@fosstodon.org]

@mdreid

I worked with Phil at Netscape.

He was also responsible for the keg fridge in the kitchenette where our group sat…

[drewtowler@mas.to]

@mdreid I'm now wondering if I've ever had an off-by-one error when working with DNS, to get the hat trick. I fear it's possible.

[mdreid@mastodon.social]

@drewtowler If you get exactly two then that’s the hat trick right?

[drewtowler@mas.to]

@mdreid Haha, I see what you did there.

(I think...)

[boydstephensmithjr@hachyderm.io]

@mdreid

I believe the classic saying is:

There are only two hard problems in computer science:
0. Cache coherency
1. Naming things
2. Off-by-one errors.

But, you top-level post made me literally laugh out loud, because I could _absolutely_ imagine the type(s) of person that might say it.

[mdreid@mastodon.social]

@BoydStephenSmithJr Yes, that was the exactly the saying the original post and my follow up comment was alluding to.

[paul_ipv6@infosec.exchange]

@mdreid

LOL

what's so hard about computers? it's just hardware and software.

[mdreid@mastodon.social]

@paul_ipv6 I mean, it’s right there in the name: “hard”ware.

[cool_day@mastodon.social]

@mdreid Dylan Bettie made a similar joke https://youtu.be/9CSjlZeqKOc?t=446

[simonzerafa@infosec.exchange]

@mdreid

Yes. That's all! ‍️

[tarix29@tech.lgbt]

@drewtowler @mdreid I almost certainly have, one of my uni classes made us implement a basic DNS server from scratch and I definitely overflowed a buffer at some point due to off by one

[marcel@waldvogel.family]

@tarix29 @drewtowler @mdreid
Come on, counting to 63 can't be that hard

[idnorton@tech.lgbt]

@BoydStephenSmithJr @mdreid this is absolutely my standard reply to this

[tbr@society.oftrolls.com]

@mdreid Also off by one errors in your zone serial…

[geert@society.oftrolls.com]

@paul_ipv6 @mdreid And firmware.

[paul_ipv6@infosec.exchange]

@geert @mdreid

firmware is just software that dried out a bit in the sun.

[pmevzek@framapiaf.org]

@drewtowler @mdreid 1) Name compression and offset handling (all DNS software was buggy in the past about that, confusing == and && when testing specific bits) and 2) bitsquatting (either from space rays or humans)