All,
This topic was queued for the last meeting,
but I connected late and the previous topic
was still active. So, Dan recommended this
discussion be brought to the reflector.
Everyone appreciates the hard work being done
by members of this group. The frequency of
meetings is impressive!
Unfortunately, there is a danger associated
with such intense work: familiarity with the
text.
When working so closely together, its natural
for all to gain an implicit knowledge of the
meanings of subtle English text. Oftentimes the
"intent", is not easily grasped by others,
particularly those for which English is a
second (3rd, or 4th) language.
Thus, the importance of communicating technical
information, in easily understood format, cannot
be underestimated. For example, I spent quite
some time reading the old 754 standard, in the
process of generating tables like those in the
attached text.
Tables tend to work well for summarizing data
that can be easily tabulated. C code or Verilog
can be more detailed and precise, but requires
comprehension of another language by the readers.
I am particularly concerned that tables within
5.1.1 through 5.1.7 (in the attachment) be included
in the published 754 specification. Of course,
this group may be able to find better variations
of format and (most likely) fix some errors.
I'm sure there are more tables that are also
relevant and can be done in a similar style.
I feel quite strongly on this issue, as I discussed
years ago with this group, so I'm also willing to do
much of the legwork, if (and when) the desired
format details are approved by consensus.
I think the progression is as follows:
1) Discuss this on email.
2) If no agreement on (1), include in the agenda
of the next meeting.
Please try to make time for (1), to preserve the
possibility of using meeting time for your most
important topics.
David V. James
Attachment:
FloatTables2005Apr21.pdf
Description: Adobe PDF document