[iaufwg] Appendix A, END keyword

[Mark Calabretta]

On Thu 2008/03/20 16:07:56 PDT, "Dick Shaw" wrote
in a message to: IAU-FWG <iaufwg at nrao.edu>

>OTOH, I think it would be a disservice to reduce the FITS Standard to a mere 
>implementation guideline. I think it can be made perfectly clear whether a 
>given file conforms to the FITS Standard or not. However, this does not 
>preclude FITS readers from being more forgiving. The Standard, I hope, will 
>encourage those so inclined to implement more rigorous writers from here on.

Any syntax that was ever defined by the standard should be documented.
The issue is that of making readers aware of, and therefore able to deal
with past standard usage, not of making them tolerant of non-standard
usage.  The alternative is to introduce versioning of the FITS standard.

Mark Calabretta