Chapter 9

Protocol Processing

Household tasks are easier and quicker when they are done by somebody else.

—JAMES THORPE

Our mental image of a musician is often associated with giving a recital, and our image of a researcher may involve his mulling over a problem. However, musicians spend more time in less glamorous tasks, such as practicing scales, and researchers spend more time than they wish on mundane chores, such as writing grants. Mastery of a vocation requires paying attention to many small tasks and not just to a few big jobs.

Similarly, tutorials on efficient protocol implementation often emphasize methods of avoiding data-touching overhead and structuring techniques to reduce control overhead. These, of course, were the topics covered in ...

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