KeepItCrisp

From W3C Wiki

Crispness of langauge is important when deigning web Architecture.

"Every HTTP URI is a URI" is a crisp statement, as is "A MAILTO URI identifies a mailbox".

Examples of statements which seem to allow sloppiness include, "It is unwise to use a telephone number to identify a car", and "Users MUST use ensure that integer addends produce an integer sum".

In an abstract system, it is OK simply to say that integers added together *do* give an integer: "MAY" or "MUST" or "SHOULD' apply to implementation conformance to a specification.


this mostly reiterates The essentials of a specification, TimBL, 1995.

other related stuff: W3C editor's homepage, spec-prod mailing list.

hmm... also: MeaningVsBehavior. how to factor...