Re: [idn] Renaming "AMC-Z"

["Bright Fulton" <bright@alldomains.com>]

Adam wrote:
> First let me clarify what I am trying to name.  I want a name for the
> transformation from any Unicode string to an ASCII string (and the
> reverse transformation).  The thing I am naming does not include the
> prefix (xx--), does not include syntax restrictions like the 63-octet
> limit, and does not include nameprep.  The thing I am naming is the
> operations performed by the pseudocode in the AMC-ACE-Z spec, and no
> more.
>
> If people are willing to use the name ACE or ACE-1 for this, that would
> be fine with me.  But if you would rather use the name ACE to refer
> to a larger operation, then I still want a name for the thing I just
> described.

Good point.  So, there is the larger process that does nameprep, the
length and syntax restrictions, AMC-ACE-Z, and prefix adding.  Most people
call this ACE.  Most people also call the encoding step (now AMC-ACE-Z)
ACE.

If people are comfortable with the naming overlap of the larger process
and the encoding step of that process then we should pick an ACE name that
describes both, leaving context to provide the cue as to which ACE you
mean.

And if people want to rename AMC-ACE-Z to something, be clear that you are
only renaming the encoding step.  This does not have to be a non-technical
name, as it will not be used by many non-technical people.  I'm for
leaving it alone, as we all know what it means.

I do think we should name the larger process.  We loosely call it ACE, but
ACE is a generic acronym, as someone pointed out earlier.

and Adam wrote:
> (Up to now, ACE has been a fuzzy term.  It hasn't been clear where its
> boundaries were.)

I think ACE is okay as a fuzzy term.  It is a broad concept, ACE.  Instead
of narrowing the defenition of what ACE means, we should make our ACE
terms more specific.

What we have here is two forms of ACE.  We have the encoding step,
AMC-ACE-Z, and we have the general ACE that is suitable for IDNs.  Maybe
we should call that larger process (including nameprep, syntax
restrictions and prefix prepending) IDN-ACE or something else which makes
clear that this process produces encoded strings which are suitable for
use in domain names.

> I usually don't like acronyms, but ACE is not bad.  I never like
> acronyms that are misspellings of real words, so I'd rather not use
> BACE, CHACE, or SUITCACE.

SUITCACE was tongue in cheek.  I think it is, like much baggage I've used,
too large to be of general use.  Sorry.

Bright Fulton