ietf-nntp newsgroup production
Charles Lindsey
chl at clw.cs.man.ac.uk
Thu Jul 27 02:17:18 PDT 2000
In <Pine.LNX.3.93.1000726124639.1130C-100000 at one.softml.net> Chin Chee-Kai <cheekai at SoftML.net> writes:
> 13. Augmented BNF[9] Syntax for NNTP Commands
> [..........]
>+ The conventions as defined in RFC822 are used. In addition, the
>+ notation "\", when used in the production rules, denotes exclusion.
No, I son't think you want to invent a special notation just so you can
use it in one situation.
>+ argument = parameter ; excluding sequence ".."
>+ ;;; original production :: augument = parameter ; excluding sequence ".."
But since 'argument' is not used elsewhere in the syntax, why not leave it
out?
>+ newsgroup = newsgroup-segment *(DOT newsgroup-segment)
>+ newsgroup-segment = parameter \ DOT
>+ DOT = %x2E
>+ ;;; parameter excluding DOT
>+ ;;; original production :: newsgroup = parameter
>+ ;;; which allowed newsgroups like "...."
>+ ;;; because DOT was a parameter
The USEFOR syntax is:
newsgroup-name = component *( "." component )
component = component-start
*( component-start / component-other )
component-start = Un-lowercase / Un-digit
Un-lowercase = <Unicode Letter, Lowercase> /
<Unicode Letter, Other>
Un-digit = <Unicode Number, Decimal Digit> /
<Unicode Number, Other>
component-other = "+" / "-" / "_"
The complication arises because of the UTF-8 and a desire to exclude
upparcase letters. I do not think we need quite so much complication in
this document, so I would suggest:
newsgroup = component *( "." component )
component = <a sequence composed of letters, digits,
"+", "-" and "_">
Note that the <...> notation is fully compliant with RFC 2234, and could
have been used for the "exlusion" in 'argument'.
--
Charles H. Lindsey ---------At Home, doing my own thing------------------------
Email: chl at clw.cs.man.ac.uk Web: http://www.cs.man.ac.uk/~chl
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