user135075: I'm reading about the gossip protocol and wanted to know what a TLV is. I can't find what it means anywhere.

user5406: TLV stands for type-length-value. It's an encoding scheme used when protocols allow for optional elements in their messages.
The type is a label telling you what field you're looking at, the length tells you how long the field is, and the value provides the actual field data.

135075: <p>I'm reading about the gossip protocol and wanted to know what a TLV is. I can't find what it means anywhere.</p>
 5406: <p>TLV stands for <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Type%E2%80%93length%E2%80%93value" rel="noreferrer">type-length-value</a>. It's an encoding scheme used when protocols allow for optional elements in their messages.</p>
<p>The <strong>type</strong> is a label telling you what field you're looking at, the <strong>length</strong> tells you how long the field is, and the <strong>value</strong> provides the actual field data.</p>
