Defect Report concerning: IEEE Std. 1003.1-1996, ISO/IEC 9945-1:1996 - C API
Clause: P310 L63
PASC Interpretation Ref: pasc-1003.1-114
Topic: granularity vs resolution

This is an unapproved interpretation of PASC 1003.1-1996, ISO/IEC 9945-1:1996 - C API.

Use of the information contained in this unapproved document is at your own risk.

Last update: 10 April,2001 

								1003.1-96  #114

 _____________________________________________________________________________

	Interpretation Number:	XXXX
	Topic:			granularity vs resolution
	Relevant Sections:	P310 L63


PASC Interpretation Request: (Defect Report)
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        Date: 2000 June 16
	Ref: XSH 32

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 7  Defect Report concerning (number and title of International Standard
    or DIS final text, if applicable): 

IEEE Std 1003.1-1996 (incorporates 1003.1-1990, 1003.1b-1993, 1003.1c-1995,
1003.1i-1995) (ISO 9945-1:1996)

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 8  Qualifier (e.g. error, omission, clarification required):

3

Error=1 , Omission=2, Clarification=3

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 9  References in document (e.g. page, clause, figure, and/or table
    numbers):

P310 L63

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10  Nature of defect (complete, concise explanation of the perceived
    problem):


The pharase "maximum allowable resolution" here is potentially
ambiguous.  Is it the largest value of _POSIX_CLOCKRES_MIN, or the
largest value of 1/_POSIX_CLOCKRES_MIN (which have completely
opposite senses) what is intended?

"Maximum allowable resolution" can be read as "the maximally finest
grained resolution permitted" or "the maximally most granular
resolution permitted".  Intuitively (which doesn't count) the intent
is that the "the worst (most granular) acceptable resolution is...".

(If you have trouble seeing the first interpretation of the words,
consider a situation where the standard wished to prohibit something
from getting too fine grained (say because it would overload the
system).  "The maximum allowable resolution of the system timer 
interrupt is 1 microsecond, because any smaller value cannot be
serviced before the next timer interrupt occurs.")

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11  Solution proposed by the submitter (optional):

Change "maximum" to either "poorest" or "largest allowable granularity".

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Interpretation response
------------------------
(note this is a dup of #99 which is also open)

The standard is clear, there is a good definition already. No change
is required.

Rationale
-------------
None.

Forwarded to Interpretations group: 19 June 2000
Proposed resolution: 25 July 2000
Finalised interpretation: 29 August 2000