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Re: Normative figures

2006-01-11 12:35:22
 
  *> The draft has expired so I need to point to an external version. This draft
  *> which is looking at the properties of a routing network under conditions of
  *> failure would have been much clearer if it could have used mathematical
  *> notation rather than ASCIIised equations
  *> 
  *> 
http://www.faqs.org/ftp/pub/internet-drafts/draft-atlas-ip-local-protect-uturn-02.txt
  *> 
  *> Of course the diagrams could have also been clearer, as is seen by
  *> comparing them to the ones that Alia used in her presentatons on the
  *> subject.
  *> 
  *> - Stewart
  *> 

Stewart,

I just looked over this document, and it actually seems to me to
support the "ASCII art and equations are [just] enough to serve the
explanatory purpose" school of thought.

I really do not see that it would be "much clearer if it could have
used mathemtical notation".  As experienced programmers, we are
used to reading linearized formulas, aren't we?  And these particular
formulas seem quite simple.

Note that if and when this document is published as an RFC, the RFC
Editor will supply some additional blank lines and clean up the
indentation, which will make the equations much easier to read.  Also,
as you note, the ASCII art diagrams could really use a cleanup.  They
are unnecessarily ugly, kind of dyslexic.

It is true that the discipline of ASCII art forces the author to give
some thought to the clarity and modularity of the text.  Opinions
differ on whether this is a good thing or a bad thing.

Bob Braden

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