Today's discussion of BIRD189.2 focused on the concept of "file name" (and
variants on the term), and whether it refers to a string that includes an
extension, whether it is simply the pre-extension string, or whether it
includes path information. As noted by Bob Ross, the BIRD189.2 language is
closely modeled on .pkg and .ebd language in the IBIS document.
I conducted a brief set of searches through the IBIS 6.1 specification,
including on the phrases or words "base name", "basename", "file name" and
"filename". My general findings are shown below, with quotations where
appropriate. All page numbers refer to the Adobe PDF* version of the file.
In brief, I believe Bob and Arpad were correct in their statements during the
meeting, and that there is a long-standing inconsistency in how we refer to
files in even pre-3.2 IBIS. In particular, the usage on pages 9 conflict with
the usage on 140 and 154. The latter two use "filename", when "basename" would
be more consistent with usage elsewhere.
Fortunately, I believe we can very quickly make the document completely
consistent by using the phrase "base name" for the non-extension portion of the
string, and "file name" for the full string, appropriately and distinctly
defined, without forcing model or tool changes. Current BIRDs could be made
consistent with these definitions very easily.
Comments are welcome.
- MM
basename
--------
p. 9 - In the "GENERAL SYNTAX RULES AND GUIDELINES" section, "basename" may be
up to 40 characters in length, followed by a period and an
up-to-three-character extension
base name
--------
p. 213 - "The algorithmic model is responsible for using DLL_ID as the base
name for any data files that the model creates..."
filename
--------
p. 140 - regarding .pkg, "filename" refers to base file name without extension
p. 154 - regarding .ebd, "filename" refers to base file name without extension
file name
--------
p. 9 - "basename" is 40 characters, followed by a period and an
up-to-three-character "file name extension" (so here, file name is equivalent
to basename)
p. 18 - for [File Name], "the file name must use the extension '.ibs', '.pkg'
or '.ebd'. The file name must be the actual name of the file."
p. 100ff - for [External Model], "file name" implies extension is included, but
the phrase "file name extension" is used several times
p. 120ff - for [External Circuit], "file name" implies extension is included,
but the phrase "file name extension" is used several times
p. 221 - for Supporting_Files, "file name" is explicitly described in contrast
to directory names and paths
