Making Things Talk

THE TOOLS 21

They’re most often in the element with which you’re least

familiar, and therefore are avoiding. When you can’t get a

message through, think about every link in the chain from

sender to receiver, and check every one. Then check the

links you overlooked.

Agree on How You Say Things

In good relationships, you develop a shared language

based on shared experience. You learn the best ways to

say things so that your partner will be most receptive,

and you develop shorthand for expressing things that you

repeat all the time. Good data communications also rely

on shared ways of saying things, or protocols. Sometimes

you make up a protocol yourself for all the objects in

your system, and other times you have to rely on existing

protocols. If you’re working with a previously established

protocol, make sure you understand what all the parts are

before you start trying to interpret it. If you have the luxury

of making up your own protocol, make sure you’ve consid-

ered the needs of both the sender and receiver when you

define it. For example, you might decide to use a protocol

that’s easy to program on your web server, but turns out

to be impossible to handle on your microcontroller. A little

thought to the strengths and weaknesses on both sides of

the transmission and a little compromise before you start

to build will make things flow much more smoothly.

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