- From: Mark Skall <mark.skall@nist.gov>
- Date: Fri, 09 Aug 2002 11:49:38 -0400
- To: Lofton Henderson <lofton@rockynet.com>, Art.Barstow@nokia.com, <www-qa@w3.org>
Most people use the two terms synonymously. Let's not proliferate additional terms. We should encourage the use of "conformance". That's the word we use. There's enough incompatibility of terminology already. By defining compliance (as identical to conformance or very much like it) we're encouraging usage of two words to say the same thing and thus encouraging (more) confusion. Mark At 09:14 AM 8/9/02 -0600, Lofton Henderson wrote: >At 10:47 AM 8/9/02 -0400, Art.Barstow@nokia.com wrote: > >>Does the QA WG consider the terms "conformance" and "compliance" >>interchangeable? >>For example does the WG (and its tech reports) consider these two assertions >>equivalent: >> >> 1. My implementation is 100% compliant with specification A >> 2. My implementation is 100% conformant with specification A >> >>If these assertions are not equivalent, what's the difference? > >I rarely use "compliance" or "compliant", for a couple of reasons. First, >in my experience, it has been abused so much in marketing claims and hype >that I have a bias against it. Second, I'm not sure what its definition is. > >I don't think QAWG has discussed it or taken a position. If it is >synonymous with Conformance, then why define and use it? I.e., there is a >lot to be said for consistent terminology. If it is different ... does >anyone want to offer a definition? > > >>Perhaps compliance should be added to: >> >> http://www.w3.org/QA/glossary > >Are you interested to propose a definition? (Note the invitation in the >first paragraph of the Glossary.) > >Cheers, >-Lofton. > **************************************************************** Mark Skall Chief, Software Diagnostics and Conformance Testing Division Information Technology Laboratory National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) 100 Bureau Drive, Stop 8970 Gaithersburg, MD 20899-8970 Voice: 301-975-3262 Fax: 301-590-9174 Email: skall@nist.gov ****************************************************************
Received on Friday, 9 August 2002 11:43:42 UTC