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[bug-gawk] Error in gawk documentation


From: William Bresler
Subject: [bug-gawk] Error in gawk documentation
Date: Fri, 28 Sep 2012 14:06:12 -0400

Greetings.

I would like to point out a minor error in the documentation for gawk, GAWK: Effective AWK Programming.  The error is in the current version of the document, corresponding to version 4.0.1 of gawk, but is also in every earlier version that I have been able to track down, including the third edition of the version published by O'Reilly, under the title Effective AWK Programming, of 2001.

In the Glossary the entry for ISO reads as follows:

The International Standards Organization. This organization produces international
standards for many things, including programming languages, such as
C and C++. In the computer arena, important standards like those for C, C++,
and POSIX become both American national and ISO international standards
simultaneously. This book refers to Standard C as “ISO C” throughout.

This is a common misunderstanding.  In fact, ISO is not an acronym but an invariant designation for the entity which defines and publishes standards.  (It comes from the Greek 'isos' meaning "the same", or "equal".)  The correct designation in English is "The International Organization for Standardization."   Simply visit their web site at www.iso.ch for confirmation.

I would hope that this will be corrected in the document files for subsequent 4.x gawk releases and perhaps corrected in the documents for the 3.1.x release as well (since not everybody will immediately move on to the 4.x release.)

I must say that I am a bit surprised that Mr. Robbins was unaware of this all too often repeated mistake, especially given the fact that he was involved with the portion of the POSIX standard which dealt with AWK and, hence, keyed in to the broader standards community.  I am even more surprised that nobody else has pointed this out for at least eleven years.

Always one to strike a blow for accuracy, I leave matters in the very capable hands of the marvelous folks behind the GNU project.  Thank you for giving this matter your kind consideration.

Sincerely,
   William Bresler


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