No disagreement here, but this was about flexibility, not an absolute judgement of how far-reaching a protocol must be.
I think I like the idea of a "spec" inside the same "protocol" more. For example if you understand HTTP you can quickly reason about any spec of a REST API that's done with JSON payloads without caring for the HTTP wrapper layer, just as you don't care for TCP around it.
I think I like the idea of a "spec" inside the same "protocol" more. For example if you understand HTTP you can quickly reason about any spec of a REST API that's done with JSON payloads without caring for the HTTP wrapper layer, just as you don't care for TCP around it.