Re: Question on use of base64 vs base64url in modern specifications

On Sun, Apr 26, 2020, at 12:10 PM, David Chadwick wrote:
> But if the key is ephemeral then it wont even be exceedingly rare, it 
> will be never. So we dont need human readability for machine-only used 
> ephemeral keys
> 

That assumes you never have a human writing, testing, debugging, or supporting such systems.

And, yes, there are systems that experimentally use AI-generated representational expressions to see what new forms of communication strategies might emerge from different system constraints, but for the most part, humans write, run, and maintain the code that runs the world.

Humans are most likely going to be reading these numbers, checking them against expectations and even typing them in, so, as Dmitri points out, *we* all care.

-j

On Sun, Apr 26, 2020, at 12:10 PM, David Chadwick wrote:
> 
> On 27/04/2020 06:22, Dmitri Zagidulin wrote:
> >
> > IMO, saying it's "multicodec / multibase" is about a billion times
> > better than saying "its base64 / base58".
> >
> >
> > Absolutely agree there. Multicodec and multibase are, I think, a must, 
> > in terms of clarity, future-proofing, and so on.
> >
> > I do want to say something about the merits of base58 for all key 
> > representations and anything DID-related. Also, I agree with your 3 
> > layer approach. Except that to me, 3rd layer is not optional.
> >
> > > Layer 3 represents why i dislike base58... who cares if "I" and "l" 
> > look similar...
> >
> > We care. We *all* care, eventually. Because despite all of our best 
> > actions to prevent humans from ever dealing with raw key material or 
> > DIDs (and we *should* do our best to prevent that, it should always be 
> > mediated by convenient software)... there WILL come a point where 
> > you're typing in your key or DID or whatever, from backup. You WILL be 
> > reading that gobbledygook string to your uncle over the phone. Yes, 
> > those cases will be exceedingly rare. But when they do happen, you 
> > will be intensely glad that you can tell a lowercase L from an 
> > uppercase i.
> 
> But if the key is ephemeral then it wont even be exceedingly rare, it 
> will be never. So we dont need human readability for machine-only used 
> ephemeral keys
> 
> Kind regards
> 
> David
> 
> 
> 

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