A Few Interesting MIME Types
As in any standard, some interesting bits are hidden deep in the documentation. These bits may not be widely implemented, but nevertheless can be quite useful. Any programmer facing a problem that can be solved by these means may as well implement the standard, regardless of the commonality of its use. It beats reinventing the wheel, saves design time, and may well interoperate with other people’s software!
Sometimes, we have seen a particular vendor pick up a “dead” standard and turn it into a successful product. The standard may then be adopted by a wider, if not universal, audience. Netscape’s implementation of the “finger” protocol in its Messaging Server is a good example.
In this light, here are three interesting MIME media types and hints for their implementation. Not all details are given, but the RFCs referenced are reasonably clear in their descriptions.
Get Programming Internet Email now with the O’Reilly learning platform.
O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.
