FTP is 50 years old

From rfc801 (transition from NCP to TCP/IP) : "FTP: This is specified in RFC 765. It is very similar to the FTP used with the NCP. The primary differences are that in addition to the changes for Telnet, that the data channel is limited to 8-bit bytes so FTP features to use other transmission byte sizes are eliminated."

So FTP is older than the standardisation of byte size :-)

Re: FTP is 50 years old

#7

Post by theflyinghorse » Fri, Apr 16, 2021, 2:58 PM UTC

The worst part is not that its 50 years old. The worst part is that some places still INSIST on using it. For instance I have to deal with FOTA and it's a pain.

Re: FTP is 50 years old

#8

Post by KozmoNau7 » Fri, Apr 16, 2021, 2:59 PM UTC

goda90 wrote: post #3

What's the oldest protocol that's still regularly used?

That depends on how you define "protocol". ASCII dates from 1963, and that's still the baseline for text-based protocols.

FTP predates Ethernet, Token Ring and ARCNET. It predates TCP/IP. For an actual protocol, and not just a simple format specification like ASCII, it doesn't get older than that in current use.

Re: FTP is 50 years old

#9

Post by crazypython » Fri, Apr 16, 2021, 2:59 PM UTC

theflyinghorse wrote: post #7

The worst part is not that its 50 years old. The worst part is that some places still INSIST on using it. For instance I have to deal with FOTA and it's a pain.

Older technologies are more reliable and last longer, because they have survived the changes of time. That also means if you learn older technology (my rule of thumb is 15+– think Elixir, Lisp, Haskell, Python, Java, C++), your knowledge is unlikely to expire.

Re: FTP is 50 years old

#10

Post by pavlov » Fri, Apr 16, 2021, 3:00 PM UTC

goda90 wrote: post #3

What's the oldest protocol that's still regularly used?

IBM z/OS (né OS/360) is 57 years old and still actively developed, so maybe something used there?