Re: [Technical Errata Reported] RFC5952 (2656)

[Bob Hinden <[e-mail]>]

Brian,

On Dec 2, 2010, at 2:33 PM, Brian E Carpenter wrote:

> There is no way this is an erratum. There was a clear choice in the WG
> to standardise on lower case.

I agree.  This was a deliberate decision by the 6man working group, it is not an error.


> There could be no objection to a presentation-layer choice to display upper
> case in a GUI as a matter of user preference. However, I was surprised by
> the suggestion that upper case is better for people with limited visual
> acuity. My eyes are well past their use-by date and I haven't found this
> to be an issue. There is evidence for upper case being better *for a
> given font size*:
> http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2016788/
> Therefore, another GUI option could be to use a bigger font size.
> 
> In any case I would object to this erratum being accepted.

+1

Bob



> 
> Regards
>   Brian Carpenter
> 
> P.S.
> 
>> Many other pre-1990 computer science and engineering books show hexidecimal non-decimal digits as upper case only
> 
> I would like to report an erratum in that sentence: s/hexidecimal/hexadecimal/
> 
> More seriously, many computers in the early days only knew how to print
> upper case; hence there was a strong bias against lower case in both software
> and documentation. It's no surprise that the ancient scrolls use upper case.
> However, I have a copy of "Electronic Digital Computers" by Charles V.L Smith
> (of the Aberdeen Proving Ground), published in 1959 by McGraw-Hill, which
> on page 4 refers to "sexadecimal" notation (you gotta love that) in which
> "the first six lower-case letters of the alphabet a, b, c, d, e, and f,
> may conveniently be used." I think that trumps the references below in
> terms of age.
> 
> On 2010-12-03 10:17, RFC Errata System wrote:
>> The following errata report has been submitted for RFC5952,
>> "A Recommendation for IPv6 Address Text Representation".
>> 
>> --------------------------------------
>> You may review the report below and at:
>> http://www.rfc-editor.org/errata_search.php?rfc=5952&eid=2656
>> 
>> --------------------------------------
>> Type: Technical
>> Reported by: D. Stussy <[e-mail]>
>> 
>> Section: 4.3
>> 
>> Original Text
>> -------------
>> 4.3.  Lowercase
>> 
>>   The characters "a", "b", "c", "d", "e", and "f" in an IPv6 address
>>   MUST be represented in lowercase.
>> 
>> 
>> Corrected Text
>> --------------
>> 4.3.  Case of Alphabetic Digits.
>> 
>>   The digits "A" through "F" in an IPv6 address
>>   MUST be represented in upper case.  User and user
>>   derived input may be represented using lower case.
>> 
>> 
>> Notes
>> -----
>> Historically from the 1960's, hexidecimal digits other than decimal digits are represented by upper case letters.  Lower case letters may have become acceptable as user input, but such resulted from lazy programmers who couldn't manage to hit the shift key on their keyboards.  However, lower case is not acceptable for digit output.  Many early assemblers would not even accept lower case as valid input digits except where the radix base exceeded 36 (thus exhausting all upper case values).  This poor programming practice should not be allowed to be codified into any Internet standard.
>> 
>> References:
>> - Struble, George W., "Assembler Language Programming:  The IBM System/360 and /370."  Addison-Wesley Publishing Co., 1969 and 1975 (Second Edition), Page 6.  ISBN 0-201-7322-6
>> - Barden, William Jr., "TRS-80 Assembly-Language Programming."  Tandy Corporation, 1979, page 14.  Library of Congress #79-63607 
>> - Leventhal, Lance A., "6502 Assembly Language Programming." Osborne McGraw-Hill, 1979 and 1986 (Second Edition), Page 1-4.  ISBN 0-07-881216-X
>> - Intel Corporation, "Intel486 Microprocessor Family Programmer's Reference Manual."  1995, Page 1-8 (Section 1.3.4).  No ISBN or LoC #.
>> - Cress, Paul, Dirksen, Paul, and Grahm, J. Wesley, "Fortran IV with WatFor and WatFiv."  Prentice-Hall, 1968 and 1970, Page 245.  LoC 74-129241
>> - Mano, M. Morris, "Computer System Architecture."  Prentice-Hall, 1982, Page 79.  ISBN 0-13-166611-8
>> - Higgins, Richard J., "Electronics with Digital and Analog Integrated Circuits."  Prentice-Hall, 1983, Page 60.  ISBN 0-13-250704-8
>> 
>> However, I also note this ONE source permits mixed case:
>> - Kernighan, Brian W. & Ritchie, Dennis M., "The C Programming Language", Prentice Hall, 1978 (First Edition), Page 180.  ISBN 0-13-110163-3
>> 
>> Many other pre-1990 computer science and engineering books show hexidecimal non-decimal digits as upper case only and NEVER as lower case.  However, I could not find pages in them defining the lettered-digits as upper case only despite their consistent usage of upper case printing.
>> 
>> Instructions:
>> -------------
>> This errata is currently posted as "Reported". If necessary, please
>> use "Reply All" to discuss whether it should be verified or
>> rejected. When a decision is reached, the verifying party (IESG)
>> can log in to change the status and edit the report, if necessary. 
>> 
>> --------------------------------------
>> RFC5952 (draft-ietf-6man-text-addr-representation-07)
>> --------------------------------------
>> Title               : A Recommendation for IPv6 Address Text Representation
>> Publication Date    : August 2010
>> Author(s)           : S. Kawamura, M. Kawashima
>> Category            : PROPOSED STANDARD
>> Source              : IPv6 Maintenance
>> Area                : Internet
>> Stream              : IETF
>> Verifying Party     : IESG
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