Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!bonnie.concordia.ca!uunet!uunet.UU.NET!sef From: arnold%audiofax.com@mathcs.emory.edu (Arnold Robbins) Newsgroups: comp.std.unix Subject: Re: implementing from 1003.2 Message-ID: <1991May11.224436.25175@uunet.uu.net> Date: 10 May 91 16:51:25 GMT References: <132258@uunet.UU.NET> Sender: usenet@uunet.uu.net (UseNet News) Reply-To: arnold@audiofax.com Organization: AudioFAX, Inc., Atlanta Georgia Lines: 34 Approved: sef@uunet.uu.net (Moderator, Sean Eric Fagan - comp.std.unix) Originator: sef@uunet.UU.NET Nntp-Posting-Host: uunet.uu.net X-Submissions: std-unix@uunet.uu.net Submitted-by: arnold%audiofax.com@mathcs.emory.edu (Arnold Robbins) In article <132258@uunet.UU.NET> andrew@alice.att.com (Andrew Hume) writes: > Can someone help clear up my misconceptions? >I recently read someone complain about difficulties implementing >bc from the spec in 1003.2 and some quick reponse from the author >of that spec. What puzzled me is the underlying assumption that >you are supposed to be able to implement from the 1003.2 description. >Is this supposed to be true? (it obviously isn't for make, for example.) >I thought 1003.2 simply described stuff so you can use it, not implement it. I'm not sure what the "official" goal of the standard is wrt being able to implement from it, but at least unofficially, this is something the working and balloting groups are aiming at. Lot of peoples, notably UCB and GNU, are using the standard as their spec for their implementations. If one wishes to create a system that is both posix conforming and at&t-source-code-free, then a spec that can be implemented from is a necessity. Of course, one could also argue that if the spec is good enough to implement from, then it is certainly good enough to describe how to use the utility. In some cases, like bc, awk, yacc, and lex, the spec for use is complicated enough anyway that it becomes a spec good enough for implementing by. (How do I know that awk 'BEGIN { print "hi" } ; END { print "bye" }' is legal while awk 'BEGIN { print "hi" } END { print "bye" }' isn't? Presenting a grammar for the language is almost a necessity...) -- Arnold Robbins AudioFAX, Inc. | Threads are the 2000 Powers Ferry Road, Suite 200 / Marietta, GA. 30067 | lack of an idea. INTERNET: arnold@audiofax.com Phone: +1 404 618 4281 | -- Rob Pike UUCP: emory!audfax!arnold Fax-box: +1 404 618 4581 | Volume-Number: Volume 23, Number 63