UDP Isn't Unreliable, It's a Conertible

Re:UDP Isn't Unreliable, It's a Conertible by SoftTalker on Thursday October 30, 2025 @03:01PM (#45763919)

I don't like the convertible analogy. It doesn't have anything to do with reliability.

I'd compare it to the mail. UDP is regular first-class mail. You send a letter, it probably gets to the address on the envelope. But it might get delayed, or even simply lost, and you'll never know.

TCP is like certified mail. It is sent by the same physical systems, but it is tracked and you get an acknowledgement that the recipient received it.

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Re:UDP Isn't Unreliable, It's a Conertible by EvanAnderson on Thursday October 30, 2025 @03:22PM (#45764162)

I always use the mail analogy when talking about unreliable packet delivery with non-technical people. People seem to grok it very quickly.

(It makes spoofing and amplification attacks easy to communicate, too.)

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Re:UDP Isn't Unreliable, It's a Conertible by mlhpdx on Thursday October 30, 2025 @05:52PM (#45765825)

Author here, and I don't really like it that much either. The problem is finding some new way to pose it so the only content out there isn't misleadingly trite.

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