>>>>> "TH" == Tom Hastings <hastings at cp10.es.xerox.com> writes:
TH> It also says: "These words are often capitalized."
TH> I've sent mail to Scott Bradner asking whether it is recommended to
TH> capitalize. Seems like it would make these terms stand out more.
TH> Should I capitalize SHALL, SHOULD, MAY (and NEED NOT) in the Job Monitoring
TH> MIB? What about IPP documents?
In many years of dealing with standards documents of all sorts, I
have always found it usefull when those keywords are in all caps; as
you say, it makes it easy to pick them out of large blocks of text.
TH> It also has "must" as a synonym for "shall". I suggest that we continue
TH> to use "shall", rather than switching over or using a mixture, in order
TH> to keep our PWG standards using the same terminology. Ok?
The equivalence is often usefull because of the context in which a
requirement is placed. Not using both can lead to some bizarre
sentence constructions. So long as the definitions are well
understood (which 2119 now makes easy) I see no reason not to use
each form where it is appropriate.
--
Scott Lawrence EmWeb Embedded Server <lawrence at agranat.com>
Agranat Systems, Inc. Engineering http://www.agranat.com/