[getdns-api] timeouts specified as milliseconds rather than seconds

[Matt Miller]

On Nov 2, 2013, at 8:39 AM, Wiley, Glen <gwiley at verisign.com> wrote:

> We are implementing timeouts specified as milliseconds rather than seconds (the API calls for seconds) - assuming this isn't going to be a big deal to folks, if so speak up.

I think millisecond precision is actually burdensome to API users in the wild.  At least is all of the experience I've had, the only place where millisecond precision was worthwhile was for reducing test execution time.  In practice, networks have enough variance in link and system latencies that users end up doing a (timeout * 1000) in code somewhere.

That said, one thing some of the APIs and SDKs I have been working on internally to my employer have started to use floating-point values for timeouts -- most users specifying an integer-looking value greater than zero in the wild and using something less than zero for testing.


- m&m

Matthew A. Miller
< http://goo.gl/LK55L >

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