ir230@sdcc6.ucsd.edu (john wavrik) (07/06/90)
Mitch Bradley writes, > To summarize the analogy: > All vendors use 6-sided bolts except one who uses 5-sided bolts. > Committee invents a 30-sided wrench and calls it a "sponge" The dictionary defines a metaphor as "a figure of speech in which a term or phrase is applied to something to which it is not literally applicable in order to suggest a resemblance". Normally I would not explain a metaphor -- but let me try to do so in this case: There are times in which a group of people have been doing things in different ways (like using different sizes and shapes of nuts and bolts). They are at a crisis state, and it seems obvious to anyone observing that it is in their collective best interest to agree on a common way of doing things. They can either pull together and produce a common size for fasteners and tools [one would assume that they'd pick the best of existing practice in each area for their standard] -- or they can insist on their right to each have different size fasteners [which entails the use of unsatisfactory tools]. It is irrelevant whether there is one 5-sided nut person or several -- or whether different people play the role at different times. What is relevant is that the approach is to try to make *both* 5-sided and 6- sided nuts standard -- rather than picking one. And that the result of this is a weaker standard. It is ironic that Mitch Bradley would object to this metaphor -- since most of the information that I have about the approach that the ANSI team takes comes from *his* postings to this newsgroup. I can think of several examples he has given us of vendors who have threatened to walk out if they don't get their way -- and not a single example of a vendor who has agreed to change his system to bring it in line with others. Even more ironic is the fact Mitch's message, which proports to be a rebuttal, provides further confirmation. In another posting, Bradley writes: > Forth is a tool, not a Holy Grail. Utility of tools is greatly > enhanced by standardization, and standardization involves compromise. I agree entirely -- and my metaphor came up when I tried to explain the difference between the bright future that Forth could enjoy and what seems to be going on in the standardization attempt. Apparently we disagree about who must do the compromising: the people who have been making various shaped nuts or the mechanics who will be expected to put up with 30-sided wrenches. John J Wavrik jjwavrik@ucsd.edu Dept of Math C-012 Univ of Calif - San Diego La Jolla, CA 92093