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From: jerry@TALOS.UUCP (Jerry Gitomer)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.forth
Subject: Re: What is a Standard
Message-ID: <897@TALOS.UUCP>
Date: 30 Jan 91 14:38:13 GMT
References: <9101282232.AA20011@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU> <27A5ADB0.20365@maccs.dcss.mcmaster.ca>
Organization: NPRI, Alexandria VA
Lines: 45

ns@maccs.dcss.mcmaster.ca (Nick Solntseff) writes:

:Sender:ns@maccs.dcss.mcmaster.ca

:In article <9101282232.AA20011@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU: UNBCIC%BRFAPESP.BITNET@SCFVM.GSFC.NASA.GOV writes:
ds>
ds>I think that something standard is something that is used in the "same way" by
ds>all the people that use this thing.
ds>
ds>Daniel C. Sobral

ns>A better term for the above would be "conventional."  Anything that is used
ns>in "the same way" by all people by agreement is used in "a conventional
ns>manner" or "by convention."

ns>A "standard" implies much more than this.  If you build a house, and the
ns>electrical wiring does not meet the standard code of wiring practice, the
ns>installer can be jailed, or at the very least have his license to practice
ns>revoked.

ns>We do we Forthers want our standard to be placed in this interval?

ns>Nicholas Solntseff

From a technical point of view there are two types of standards; 
defacto and dejure.

A defacto standard is one based on usage by either the world as a whole 
or an 800-pound gorilla (in the computer industry we call the gorilla IBM).

A dejure standard is one based on law such as any standard approved by 
the International Standards Organization (ISO) or, in the United States, 
the American National Standards Institute (ANSI).  (Yes, an ANSI or ISO 
standard has legal as well as technical status.)  

From a pragmatic point of view, if a dejure standard exists any product 
which claims to be that which the standard defines must conform to the 
standard.



-- 
Jerry Gitomer at National Political Resources Inc, Alexandria, VA USA
I am apolitical, have no resources, and speak only for myself.
Ma Bell (703)683-9090      (UUCP:  ...{uupsi,vrdxhq}!pbs!npri6!jerry