- A protocol defines:
- Format
- Order of messages sent and received
- Actions taken on message transmission
- Receipt
- e.g. TCP
- If there’s no controller to monitor what’s going on and one of the computers involved stops following the protocol, then
- that malfunctioning computer’s messages may just be discarded
- but it may disrupt other computers’ communications
- So you want to set up protocols so they discourage bad behavior/protect other computers from bad computers