Attempting to implement new nomenclaure...

[r754@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

        Folks,

        I just began the likely long task of implementing the new
        nomenclature we agreed to today & I've already run into
        trouble.

        There are many occurances of terms like REPRESENTABLE ENTITY
        or ENTITIES which date from the time we separated the notions
        of format & meaning.  Nine if these have a place in the new
        nomenclature.  As I glance through them, some might be replaced
        by FLOATING-POINT DATUM or DATA, some by FLOATING-POINT NUMBER,
        & others by I know not what.

        For the moment, I am inclined to leave them alone until I hear
        from the style reviewers but I thought I'd let you know what is
        coming.

        An outline for the task together with OpenOffice counts of each
        term are included below.

        Just so you know...


                                   Dan


        number, value, entity, entities, representation, format, NaN,
        infinite, infinity, finite, zero, normal, subnormal, denormal -->

        FLOATING-POINT DATUM - The most general case.
                NaN - As a NaN has only been defined for floating-point
                        numbers, FLOATING-POINT NaN is unneeded.  If I
                        come across an instance of some other kind of
                        NaN I will qualify it, eg: INTEGER NaN.
                FLOATING-POINT NUMBER - The general numeric case.
                        INFINITY - Also does not need FLOATING-POINT.
                        FINITE NUMBER - This could be FINITE FLOATING-
                                POINT NUMBER but I'll go with FINITE
                                NUMBER if there is no danger of
                                confusion.
                                ZERO - Fine as is.
                                NON-ZERO NUMBER - Again, will only use
                                        NON-ZERO FINITE FLOATING-POINT
                                        NUMBER if there is danger of
                                        confusion.
                                        NORMAL NUMBER - Fine as is.
                                        SUBNORMAL NUMBER - This too.

        The changes:

        Number (149):
        Value (112):
        Entity (8):
        Entities (11):
        Representation (59):
        Format (500 even, wow):
        NaN (195):
        Infinite (32):
        Infinity (28):
        Finite (61):
        zero (97):
        non-zero (3):
        Normal (50):
        Subnormal (24):
        Denormal (2, that's bad):