[Cfp-interest 3204] Re: Various Updates to Annex F+G

[Damian McGuckin]

Nowhere is the concept of normative text defined or discussed.

With regard to F.10.1#14

 	Functions with a NaN argument return a NaN result and raise no
 	floating-point exception, except where explicitly stated otherwise.

I would dearly love to add the word 'single' before that NaN.

Routines with more than one argument, only one of which is a NaN, may not
return a NaN or are different enough that they should be a non normative
case and require special explanations.

That simplifies things, is consistent with Annex G, and should not affect 
any implementation.

By the way, the word normative is never either defined nor explained in 
the C standard (and when I asked some of my more learned friends what the 
word normative meant, I never got a truly widespread answer). The closest 
I got was that normative implied something where opinion or judgement is 
involved. Scary language for use in a standard.

I did not that Wikipedia says

 	"Normative" is sometimes also used, somewhat confusingly, to mean
 	relating to a descriptive standard: doing what is normally done or
 	what most others are expected to do in practice.

I think the C standard uses it in the context of "that which is normal" 
but it never mentions that parentheses are used to encapsulate when one is 
referencing the normal. And parentheses are used for lots of other things.

Thanks - Damian