STOP-AND-WAIT PROTOCOL

Because the internet isn't perfect, sis! Packets can get lost, duplicated, or arrive out of order. Stop-and-Wait makes sure each packet is safely delivered before moving to the next one. It's like eating one fry at a time instead of shoving the whole box in your mouth.

The sender has a timer! If it doesn't get an ACK within a certain time, it assumes the packet or ACK got lost in the void and resends the packet. This is why we have the timeout counter in the simulation.

Yes, but mostly in simple systems or where reliability is more important than speed. Modern protocols like TCP use more advanced versions (sliding window) that are like Stop-and-Wait but with multiple packets in transit at once - the glow-up version!

Stop-and-Wait is the most basic reliable protocol. Others like Go-Back-N and Selective Repeat allow multiple packets in flight, making them more efficient but also more complex. It's like the difference between texting one message at a time vs having a full conversation flow.