25 April 2011
Document Number:
OWG-1/29-00209
Page
Subject:
Reorganization of definitions section
Author:
Don Nelson
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References:
1.
Base Document: FCD 1.0, July 1, 2010
2.
29-0186 Changes for definitions – try two
PROPOSED REVISION:
NL comment xx and the ISO drafting rules require that the definitions sections of
standard have a different format than ours. This proposal organizes it to meet those
requirements as well as it is possible to do so.
JUSTIFICATION:
ISO drafting rule requirements.
COMPATIBILITY:
This feature is compatible with ISO/IEC 1989.
DISCUSSION:
Initial Investigation
I originally formatted the section in a simple manner to come close to meeting the
requirements. These changes were to make three “lines”, with the first being the item
number, the second being the name, and the third being the current definition with the
article at the front and the period at the end being removed. Second sentences were
changed to notes.
Meeting NNN:
At subsequent meetings many comments were made about these changes. These
required separating definitions with multiple names into separate lines (as required by
ISO), the items with a qualifier (like 4.31, character) having the qualifier enclosed in
<> symbols, deleting some second sentences, making some notes, or adding
normative text elsewhere and getting rid of the sentence.
PROPOSED CHANGES TO BASE DOCUMENT:
1.
Pages 8 through 17, 4, Terms and definitions, change to meet the ISO/IEC
drafting requirements as follows: put the item number on the first line; put the
name on the second line bolded and any additional names on subsequent lines
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bolded; any qualifiers leading the next line enclosed in <>; bracketed references
to another standard are put on the last line by themselves (it is assumed that the
referenced standard has exactly the same definition); and the definition on the
subquent line (s) with the article in front and the period at the end removed.
Those that required additional changes are listed in the following proposal items.
2.
Page 8, 4.11, alphanumeric group item, combine the bulleted items into the
definition.
3.
Page 8, 4.13, assumed decimal point, delete the note and change the definition
to read:
“decimal point position that does not involve the existence of an actual character
in a data item and has logical meaning with no physical representation".
[I originally thought the second sentence should be a note, but decided to fold it
in.]
4.
Page 8, 4.16, basic letter, change the definition to read:
“uppercase letter ‘A’ through ‘Z’ or a lowercase letter ‘a’ through ‘z’ in the
COBOL character repertoire”.
5.
Page 8, 4.20, boolean character, change the definition to read:
“unit of information that consists of the value zero or one".
[Originally I had made the second sentence a note. After further discussion I
moved it to the picture definition of a boolean position (see change to page 386)
although I still feel that it is superfluous.]
6.
Page 8, 4.22, Boolean expression, change definition to read:
“expression consisting of one or more boolean operands separated by boolean
operators”
7.
Page 9, 4.26, case-sensitive, delete this definition.
[This is very common usage and there is no need to add a definition for it.]
or change it to
“uppercase letters and their corresponding lowercase letters have meanings or
interpretations that are distinct from each other”
8.
Page 9, 4.27, case-insensitive, delete this definition.
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[This is very common usage and there is no need to add a definition for it.]
or change it to
“uppercase letters and their corresponding lowercase letters have meanings or
interpretations that are equivalent to each other”
9.
Page 9, 4.33, character position, delete the second sentence.
[I feel that the second sentence is definitely an “aside” and probably is not even
needed at all. The definition of coded character set (4.42) says this more or
less.]
10. Page 9, 4.36 and 4.37, class, delete “A designation for a”.
11. Page 11, 4.59, decimal point, delete the second sentence.
[The default is fully defined in several places. I added an index for the main
definition (see the PECP)]
12. Page 11, 4.61, declarative statement, change “which” to “that” and delete the
comma.
13. Page 11, 4.73 through 4.78, EXIt … statement, remove the words “An
abbreviation for” and the quotes.
[Some feel we should remove these entirely.]
14. Page 11, 4.79, explicit scope terminator, put “by its presence” in commas.
15. Page 12, 4.86, file, delete the second sentence.
[This is fully defined elsewhere (9.11.1, penultimate paragraph).]
16. Page 12, 4.98, grouping separator, delete the second sentence.
[The default is fully defined in several places. I added an index for the main
definition (see the PECP)]
17. Page 13, 4.114, interface, the bulleted list is folded into the definition.
18. Page 14, 4.134, native character set, change the definition to read:
“implementor-defined character set, either alphanumeric or national or both, that
is used for internal processing of a COBOL runtime module and is specified by
the keyword NATIVE in the SPECIAL-NAMES paragraph”
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19. Page 15, 4.141, object data, the bulleted list is folded into the definition.
20. Page 15, 4.152, procedure, change definition to:
“paragraph, section, or one or more successive paragraphs or sections in the
procedure division”.
21. Page 16, 4.170, run unit, change definition to:
“runtime entity consisting of one or more runtime modules that interact and that
function at execution time as an independent entity””
22. Page 16, 4.171, runtime element, change definition to:
“element that consists of code and data produced by the compilation of a source
element.”
23. Page 16, 4.178 and 4.179, standard …, delete.
[This was suggested because they are clearly defined in the text and there are
indexes to them.]
24. Page 16, 4.181, subclass, delete the second sentence.
[All of this is discussed in the rules for inheritance and the words “inheritor” and
the non-word “inheritee” are not used anywhere.]
25. Page 16, 4.185, surrogate pair, replace the definition with the following:
“coded character representation for a single abstract character of the UTF-16
format of the UCS where the representation consists of a sequence of two twooctet values where the first value of the pair is a high-surrogate and the second
is a low-surrogate”
[I had a note originally, but I feel that combining the sentences is better.]
26. Page 16, 4.188, universal multiple-octet coded character set, make the second
sentence a note.
[Although it could be deleted I think it is interesting.]
27. Page 346, 13.18.39.3, PICTURE clause, general rule 13, symbol 1, insert a new
second sentence as follows:
“Each boolean character can be represented in storage as a bit, an
alphanumeric character, or a national character.”
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Or, to make it like PIC 9
“For usages display and national, each ‘1’ represents a character position that
shall contain either the character ‘0’ or ‘1’. For usage bit, each ‘1’ represents a
bit that is either on or off.”
RESOLVED ISSUES:
NONE.
OPEN ISSUES:
NONE.