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Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!burl!codas!mtune!mtunb!dmt
From: dmt@mtunb.UUCP
Newsgroups: comp.sources.wanted,comp.dcom.lans,comp.mail.misc
Subject: Re: X.400 Mail Package
Message-ID: <959@mtunb.ATT.COM>
Date: Wed, 10-Jun-87 09:28:22 EDT
Article-I.D.: mtunb.959
Posted: Wed Jun 10 09:28:22 1987
Date-Received: Tue, 16-Jun-87 01:11:07 EDT
References: <289@rabbit1.UUCP> <220@idacrd.UUCP> <493@rlgvax.UUCP>
Reply-To: dmt@mtunb.UUCP (Dave Tutelman)
Organization: AT&T Information Systems - Lincroft, NJ
Lines: 35
Xref: utgpu comp.sources.wanted:1183 comp.dcom.lans:485 comp.mail.misc:294

In article <493@rlgvax.UUCP> dennis@rlgvax.UUCP (Dennis.Bednar) writes:
>Recently I was tasked to write-up an internal memo that compared
>X.400 to our electronic mail system that we sell as part of our
>OA package (OfficePower).  Well, the X.400 series (8 of 'em) standards
>are *very* difficult to read casually.  When are those standards
>writers going to start writing documentation that is isn't so abstract,
>terse, and hard to understand?

	Probably never;  I'll even defend that's as it should be.
	The purpose of the standard is unambiguous precision.  Bad
	standards are bad not because their statement is abstract or
	difficult to read, but because their content is wrong or
	ambiguous.  It seems to be a fact of life (or at least of the
	state of the art in languages) that precision REQUIRES terse
	abstract notation.

	What there REALLY ought to be is a tutorial, readable statement
	of what the standard says.  This tutorial should NOT be confused
	with the standard itself; where there is a discrepancy, the
	[unreadable] standard rules.

	Since standards committees seldom publish such documents, the
	book industry may be missing a profitable market here.
>
>Maybe we need a standard for writing standards? :-)

	If it's a good standard, you'll have trouble reading it, too.
	:-)

+---------------------------------------------------------------+
|    Dave Tutelman						|
|    Physical - AT&T  -  Lincroft, NJ				|
|    Logical -  ...ihnp4!mtuxo!mtunb!dmt			|
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