"Bernhard R. Link" <[email protected]> writes: > * Russ Allbery <[email protected]> [111026 00:43]:
>> I think it would be lovely to just use RFC 2119 language or a close >> adaptation thereof. We're sort of reinventing the wheel here, > There is also those previous art called "language". I do not think it > makes sense at all to switch from the wheel to some cogwheel when still > wanting to run on roads. How much standards work have you done? I ask because this strikes me as a rather naive statement, but one I could see myself making before I'd done substantial standards work. As I recall, I disliked RFC 2119 initially as well. Then I wrote a couple of RFCs, chaired an IETF working group, had a bunch of arguments with people about what pre-RFC-2119 IETF standards meant, and developed a real appreciation for standardized language around requirements. The previous art called "English" developed for day-to-day human expression and is poor at formal specifications because so many words have multiple alternative meanings and can carry different levels of weight in different contexts. Particularly when one has a substantial number of non-native readers who aren't going to pick up on subtle nuance, this just doesn't work. This is something that basically every standards body has confronted at one time or another in the past. We're already not using English; we already give specific definitions of terms at the start of the document that override the normal English definitions. We just don't distinguish those terms from the normal English words and therefore don't use them consistently. We also don't do a great job of providing ourselves with a sufficient range of terms. > That's a totally different way to express things. There are not only > some little wording difference. Having to have some all-upercase "MUST" > in every second sentence is not only ugly You'd cope, and you'd find it easier to read RFCs. :) > but would not improve policy at all. Well, I think there's fairly substantial evidence, and prior art, to indicate the opposite. But I'm also not planning on starting to rewrite Policy tomorrow. -- Russ Allbery ([email protected]) <http://www.eyrie.org/~eagle/> -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [email protected] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [email protected] Archive: http://lists.debian.org/[email protected]
