Re: UDP network problem

Michael Stone (mstone@itri.loyola.edu)
Tue, 19 Aug 1997 16:22:55 -0400

Quoting Lance Dillon (riffraff@gte.net):
> it is precisely because udp is connectionless and unreliable that you
> can split a udp packet....you could split one up, you would either have
> to put them back together in the proper order at the distant end, in
> which case you should use tcp instead, and it would completely negate
> the advantage (as it were) of using udp, or at least there would no
> longer be a reason to use it

I've been under the impression that the difference between TCP and UDP
is that TCP packets get retransmitted if there's an error, whereas UDP
can get dropped on the floor without anyone noticing/caring. This recent
discussion suggesting that the advantage of UDP is that it's a
non-fragmentable packet whose size is set by a userland program so that
it fits the smallest MTU between client and host gives me something to
think about. I guess you really do learn something every day.

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