Abstract Syntax Notation One

In telecommunications and computer networking, Abstract Syntax Notation One (ASN.1) is a standard and flexible notation that describes data structures for representing, encoding, transmitting, and decoding data. It provides a set of formal rules for describing the structure of objects that are independent of machine-specific encoding techniques and is a precise, formal notation that removes ambiguities. ASN.1 is a joint ISO/IEC and ITU-T standard, originally defined in 1984 as part of CCITT X.409:1984. ASN.1 moved to its own standard, X.208, in 1988 due to wide applicability. The substantially revised 1995 version is covered by the X.680 series. The latest available version is dated 2002, and is backward compatible with the 1995 version. Contents [hide] 1 ASN.1 in transfer 2 Example 2.1 Example encoded in DER 2.2 Example encoded in XER 2.3 Example encoded in PER (unaligned) 3 ASN.1 versus other data structure definition schemes 4 Encoding Control Notation (ECN) 5 ASN.1 Information Object Class 6 Using ASN.1 in practice 7 Standards 8 See also 9 Notes 10 References 11 External links [edit] ASN.1 in transfer ASN.1 defines the abstract syntax of information but does not restrict the way the information is encoded. Various ASN.1 encoding rules provide the transfer syntax (a concrete representation) of the data values whose abstract syntax is described in ASN.1. The standard ASN.1 encoding rules include: Basic Encoding Rules (BER) Canonical Encoding Rules (CER) Distinguished Encoding Rules (DER) XML Encoding Rules (XER) Packed Encoding Rules (PER) Generic String Encoding Rules (GSER) ASN.1 together with specific ASN.1 encoding rules facilitates the exchange of structured data especially between application programs over networks by desc