Evolving TCP: how hard can it be? / Dec 2012
Paper on extending TCP in a backwards compatible way at CoNeXT 2012. This work explored the practical challenges of evolving TCP to add new features while maintaining compatibility with the existing internet infrastructure. We investigated how to introduce protocol extensions in a way that degrades gracefully when communicating with legacy systems, addressing the fundamental tension between innovation and backwards compatibility in critical internet protocols. The paper provides insights into the engineering challenges of updating foundational network protocols.