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Re: [ddlm-group] [THREAD 4] UTF8
- To: Group finalising DDLm and associated dictionaries <ddlm-group@iucr.org>
- Subject: Re: [ddlm-group] [THREAD 4] UTF8
- From: David Brown <idbrown@mcmaster.ca>
- Date: Fri, 23 Oct 2009 15:18:11 -0400
- In-Reply-To: <279aad2a0910222132t5c8297aao90914fa40c4fbd91@mail.gmail.com>
- References: <279aad2a0910120838t5f400d71wf1f237d05338c08@mail.gmail.com> <C6F976F1.1206C%nick@csse.uwa.edu.au> <279aad2a0910221613m2a2a7891k4ae23476e50f98e4@mail.gmail.com> <20091022214818.D61491@epsilon.pair.com><279aad2a0910222132t5c8297aao90914fa40c4fbd91@mail.gmail.com>
I would just like to point out a philosophical principle which we
tried to observe in the earlier CIFs, and which I think very important,
namely that in a standard like CIF it is only necessary to define one
convention for each feature in the standard. Writers are required to
convert the input to this convention and readers can always be
confident that they will only have to read this one convention. Every
time you allow alternative ways of encoding a piece of information you
*require* the reader to be able to read both alternatives. If you
allow three different encodings, you require three different parsers.
If you allow ten different codings, you require ten different parsers
in every piece of reading software. With one standard, a single parser
works everywhere. If a standard allows two different codings, it is no longer a standard, it is two standards, and that is something we have tried to avoid (not always successfully) in CIF. It should be a goal. David |
begin:vcard fn:I.David Brown n:Brown;I.David org:McMaster University;Brockhouse Institute for Materials Research adr:;;King St. W;Hamilton;Ontario;L8S 4M1;Canada email;internet:idbrown@mcmaster.ca title:Professor Emeritus tel;work:+905 525 9140 x 24710 tel;fax:+905 521 2773 version:2.1 end:vcard
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