[HN Gopher] The AT Protocol
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The AT Protocol
Author : agd
Score : 48 points
Date : 2022-10-18 18:49 UTC (4 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (atproto.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (atproto.com)
| kragen wrote:
| Where does it document ATS11=38?
|
| +++
|
| ATH
| viksit wrote:
| has anyone found code on their github or any other libraries yet?
| the repo is just docs.
| pfraze wrote:
| https://github.com/bluesky-social/atproto packages directory
| skyfaller wrote:
| Can anyone explain why Bluesky is making a new protocol instead
| of using ActivityPub like Mastodon? What advantages would it have
| over ActivityPub? https://activitypub.rocks/ Worth noting that
| ActivityPub is an official W3C recommended standard.
|
| Is it just Not Invented Here syndrome? This could lead to
| https://xkcd.com/927/
| foodstances wrote:
| So they can be the center of it and control it, of course.
| grishka wrote:
| How could one "control" a federation protocol though?
| iblablelbli wrote:
| that's an interesting question, I think spam is part of
| how... for a proper answer I would look at how SMTP has
| evolved over time.
| grishka wrote:
| SMTP started without proper authentication so anyone
| could spoof anyone's address. Most of those extensions
| try to fix this. But ActivityPub, for example, has
| authentication built-in from the beginning in the form of
| HTTP signatures.
| skyfaller wrote:
| Consider how worried people are about Google Chrome's
| browser market share, and how Google is increasingly able
| to dictate details of the web unilaterally. The Web is made
| of standardized protocols, but Google has significant
| control over it.
|
| Consider the state of email, a standardized protocol, where
| Gmail is dominant, and anything that can't deliver to Gmail
| is practically irrelevant, no matter whether it follows the
| protocol.
|
| Now consider Bluesky. If Twitter supports the AT protocol
| early, it would be by far the largest implementation,
| meaning that Twitter practically controls it. It would be
| like Gmail for email, except there are no other options to
| begin with. If Twitter does not support AT protocol early,
| then AT protocol will be irrelevant, and other networks
| like the ActivityPub Fediverse will continue to outpace it.
| wmf wrote:
| There are some technical differences like AT storing all
| content in a Merkle tree so it's easier to replicate, check
| integrity, etc. It's not clear to me how valuable these
| features will be. Perhaps the biggest difference is that
| they've introduced a username->server indirection layer.
| nightpool wrote:
| How would you ever handle deleting posts or removing content
| if there's a Merkle tree that gets invalidated for every
| deleted post you send?
| pfraze wrote:
| The root gets updated with each update, and the diff gets
| exchanged as part of the sync protocol. Deleting and
| purging is no different than other federated protocols in
| that regard.
| sneak wrote:
| ActivityPub isn't a great protocol and ties your identity to
| your homeserver.
| gargron wrote:
| ActivityPub, the protocol, doesn't actually tie your identity
| to your homeserver. Webfinger (which is the protocol
| responsible for the username@domain addresses) is not part of
| it. In fact, even Webfinger doesn't actually "tie" your
| identity to your homeserver -- the fact that your identity is
| "tied" is an implementation detail in Mastodon and other
| currently popular fediverse software.
| tsukikage wrote:
| ...anyone else click through expecting a discussion of the Hayes
| command set, or just me?
| ok123456 wrote:
| I wish it was.
| systems_glitch wrote:
| That's what I expected as well.
| mikestew wrote:
| Not me, but only because you saved me a click. "Go to the
| comments first", FTW. :-)
|
| (Though I might still waste that saved click just to see what
| TFA _is_ about...)
| doctor_eval wrote:
| Clicked on the link looking for a blast from the past, came
| away bewildered.
| [deleted]
| krylon wrote:
| It's not just you.
| Findecanor wrote:
| IBM PC/AT keyboard protocol here. But it is more often called
| "PS/2", which is the same with more keys.
| ape4 wrote:
| Yes. Perhaps like Telegram refers to an important earlier
| communication medium.
| nomel wrote:
| I remember feeling like a magician when I first learned about
| AT commands. It was my first real experience getting the
| computer to do something physical. After that, I learned about
| all the IO accessible on the parallel port, allowing full
| binary access to the real world. I was hooked, and it
| eventually led to a career of making computers do physical
| things. :)
| mysterydip wrote:
| Me too. Wikipedia seems to have a decent list:
| https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hayes_command_set
| askvictor wrote:
| Me too; particularly as I've been using them quite a bit
| recently; AT lives on in embedded system network comms (e.g 4G,
| wifi, ethernet and/or bluetooth modules - the ESP32/ESP8266 has
| AT command support). It's really expanded a lot these days -
| you can do http(s) and mqtt requests, and even run a web server
| without having to touch a TCP stack.
| contingencies wrote:
| Not just you.
| mrlonglong wrote:
| +++ATH
|
| <click>
| entropyie wrote:
| Super disappointed that this is not about modems...
| patientplatypus wrote:
| branon wrote:
| Bluesky is Twitter's right? Will be cool if they come away with
| something actually decentralized. Trial in beta with hackers,
| then one day, in-place swap Twitter to run on it. Pipe dream?
| tssva wrote:
| Seems very similar in goal to the Solid Project,
| https://solidproject.org, which Tim Berners Lee is involved with
| and is being standardized by the W3C.
| gobengo wrote:
| I believe it's not particularly standards-track at W3C. Is
| there a reason you think that it is?
| jacooper wrote:
| This looks interesting.
|
| https://atproto.com/docs
| mike256 wrote:
| I dont think so. It should not be named AT Protocol... :-(
|
| +++
|
| ATH
| yjftsjthsd-h wrote:
| Darn it, I initially assumed that this was about AT commands.
| rbanffy wrote:
| Same here. I guess we are very old.
|
| OTOH, companies like these should hire us Elder Things to
| check whether they are naming something after something
| people like.
| xen2xen1 wrote:
| It's not? Hayes compatible all the way!
| mdaniel wrote:
| You seem to have misspelled "misguided".
| https://atproto.com/specs/xrpc invents their _own_ RPC, because
| _the 8000 other ones_ are somehow insufficient for their Web3
| ways? Bonus points for
| https://atproto.com/specs/xrpc#authentication
|
| And that's not even getting into "oh, ok, so my cousin is going
| to create his own DNS entry, is he?"
| https://atproto.com/guides/identity#identifiers
|
| https://atproto.com/lexicons/atproto-com#comatprotocreateses...
| seems to be missing any 2FA parts, spitting in the face of
| years of "don't get phished" learning
| knaekhoved wrote:
| https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hayes_command_set
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(page generated 2022-10-18 23:01 UTC)