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%	$Header: goals.tex,v 1.1 89/01/15 19:59:25 jrd Exp $
%	Author: J. Davin
%	Copyright 1988, 1989, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
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\section {SNMP Development Kit Goals}

The foremost goal of the SNMP Development Kit is to foster
serious as well as playful exploration of current and novel
techniques for network management. This kit is intended
as an aid for those who seek practical experience
in both the use of network management information and the
engineering issues involved in its acquisition and manipulation.

The design of the SNMP Development Kit is consistent with
its goal:

\begin{itemize}
\item The SNMP Development Kit code is designed to be
relatively portable in order that use of the package
not be restricted to particular hardware or software
environments.

\item The SNMP Development Kit code is designed to be
highly modular in order that individual components of
the package may be easily refined, modified, or reused to
construct novel applications.

\item The SNMP Development Kit code is designed around
sharply defined interfaces, so that use of the package or
any of its components requires no detailed knowledge of
its internals.

\item The SNMP Development Kit is deliberately and flagrantly
unoptimized in order that neither the scope of its application
nor its value as an example implementation is diminished by
parochial or obscure coding strategies.

\end{itemize}

While the deliberate inattention to performance issues implicit
in the Development Kit code distinguishes it from more finely
crafted, commercial SNMP implementations, this difference
increases its value as a common reference point from
which (long overdue) discussion of management protocol
performance can proceed.

