A Real Life Protocol
In my own words...
After researching the definition of a protocol online, I found that the best definition was that provided on http://www.cites.uiuc.edu/glossary/.
"A protocol is a standardized means of communication among machines across a network. Protocols allow data to be taken apart for faster transmission, transmitted, and then reassembled at the destination in the correct order. The protocol used determines the way errors are checked, the type of compression, the way the sender indicates the end of the transmission, and the way the receiver indicates that the message has been received. Protocols can describe low-level details of machine-to-machine interfaces (e.g., the order in which bits and bytes are sent across a wire) or high-level exchanges between allocation programs (e.g., the way in which two programs transfer a file across the Internet)."
My interpretation of a real life protocol would be that of my job at Dunkin Donuts.
The first part of the definition talks about "a standardized means of communication among machines across a network". In Dunkin Donuts terms this would be how I and other employees communicate with each other. It would also include the basic communication between my boss and I. I also believe that this part of the definition would cover when we as employees communicate to each other that is a need for more of us at the registers or that a customer is unhappy.
The second part of the definition states, "Protocols allow data to be taken apart for faster transmission, transmitted, and then reassembled at the destination in the correct order." At Dunkin Donuts, this would be the part of my job where I as an employee take the order of a customer, and carefully put that information into the registar, so that my co-workers that would be assembling food know what to make when it appears on the TV screen. The TV screen displays how the customer wants the food to be made and in what order it should be made.
The final part of the definition talks about how the information is sent and completed. "The protocol used determines the way errors are checked, the type of compression, the way the sender indicates the end of the transmission, and the way the receiver indicates that the message has been received." At work, this would be the part where I ask my co-worker if the TV indicated the correct order. I would also ask he/she if he understood how the customer wanted the order made (if there was a special request). Lastly I would ask my co-worker if he/she had completed the order in the assembling station (for those of you that don't know what that is, it's where the food is put together) and if the customer had recieved it already or if I needed to hand deliver it. Once the customer has fully recieved their order, I thank them for coming to Dunkin Donuts and tell them to "Have a nice day!". :0)
This would conclude the proper transmission of my real life protocol.
