Hi,

A lot of interesting code/projects are implementations of protocols, eg SNMP.

How are projects like these, which depend on implementing a certain format, developed? Is the process something like get the guidelines of the protocol and then implement code which follows it.

For example, XML-RPC is about transmitting XML docs between client/server, so the documentation on this protocol must outline the structure of the XML documents and then the way the transportation between client and server works, so the coder will implement this sort of functionality (xml doc construction, networking between the client and server).

Projects I am thinking of (not to develop) are C# libraries which can interpret .PSDs, make VHDs, etc.

So if I was to develop a C# app to implement .AI files (Illustrator files), what would be the steps I would look at (such as contacting Adobe, etc)?

Is this the way such projects are developed?