MBOX-Line: From mrc at CAC.Washington.EDU  Tue Dec 13 08:34:02 2005
To: imap-protocol@u.washington.edu
From: Mark Crispin <mrc@CAC.Washington.EDU>
Date: Fri Jun  8 12:34:36 2018
Subject: [Imap-protocol] IMAP protocol
In-Reply-To: <006801c5ffcf$35676990$1500a8c0@Ganesh>
References: <006801c5ffcf$35676990$1500a8c0@Ganesh>
Message-ID: <Pine.OSX.4.64.0512130804570.9510@pangtzu.panda.com>

On Tue, 13 Dec 2005, Ganesh wrote:
>    i received the link for book for INternet Protocol development but i
> didn't get the actual content on net.
>    Can you prvide me the useful link which can help me in solving my
> problem.I will try to get the book but when i searched it was not available
> near to me.

I do not know of any pedagogical resource on IMAP (and other Internet 
email protocols) other than Kevin Johnson's book.

The resources that exist online are the RFCs which specify the protocols, 
but these specifications are not aimed at beginners.  Some people have 
drawn up notes of "mistakes to avoid" when writing an IMAP implementation, 
but those notes will make no sense unless you already understand the IMAP 
protocol specification.

It is a large and complex task to build a quality IMAP implementation, 
even for an expert programmer.  It is also a large and complex task to 
learn enough about IMAP (and other email protocols) to build a quality 
implementation.

As a practical matter, if you are not familiar with the various email 
protocols (effectively, you have to memorize all these 100+ pages 
specifications), this will be a multi-year project.  It may not be 
difficult to produce something that "works", but it is quite difficult to 
produce something that "works well".

There is no "shortcut" for this task.  Kevin Johnson's book will give you 
a basic overview of the various protocols, but you will still need to 
spend a long time studying the RFCs.

-- Mark --

http://panda.com/mrc
Democracy is two wolves and a sheep deciding what to eat for lunch.
Liberty is a well-armed sheep contesting the vote.

