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RE: "Non-Normative"

• To: "'Gregory Murphy'" <Gregory.Murphy@e...>,<xml-dev@l...>
• Subject: RE: "Non-Normative"
• From: "Michael Kay" <michael.h.kay@n...>
• Date: Wed, 19 Feb 2003 09:02:37 -0000
• Importance: Normal
• In-reply-to: <Pine.GSO.4.10.10302181430210.8710-100000@gris>
• Reply-to: <michael.h.kay@n...>

> The term "non-normative" is used frequently in XML 1.0 and in 
> related specs. What a document means when it purports to be 
> normative is clear to me, but when a section is labled 
> "non-normative", I know what it is not, but not necessarily 
> what it is.
> 
> Can someone offer paraphrase what the specs mean when they 
> use this term?

It means "here is some information which you may find interesting, it
may help you to understand what the normative parts of the spec are
saying, or why they are saying it, and it may help you to avoid
misunderstanding it".

Taking non-normative material out of a spec wouldn't change the spec, it
would just make it harder to read it or to use it. That's the theory,
anyway.

Michael Kay

• References:
  • "Non-Normative"
    • From: Gregory Murphy <Gregory.Murphy@e...>

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