J3/17-121r1 To: J3 From: Malcolm Cohen Subject: Optional and mandatory blanks Date: 2017 February 14 1. Introduction The separating blank(s) for the keywords END CRITICAL are optional, but for END TEAM are mandatory. 2. Discussion We allow the separating blanks between the END keyword and a following keyword to be omitted in apparently every other case: it is a long list, from ENDASSOCIATE all the way to ENDWHERE. On the other hand, we have generally required the separating blank for other cases, e.g. SYNC ALL which was added at the same time as END CRITICAL. Similarly, this time around, other keyword pairs we have added include CHANGE TEAM, EVENT POST, EVENT WAIT, and SELECT RANK. These all have mandatory blank separation. So the question is, do we want to maintain that the blank after END is always optional? Or just keep it simple. In plenary, the straw vote Alternative 1 - Alternative 2 - Undecided resulted in 1 - 11 - 0, so Alternative 2 was moved. Note: Regardless of the answer to this question, I think we should keep the mandatory blanks in CHANGE TEAM, EVENT POST, EVENT WAIT, SELECT RANK, SYNC ALL, SYNC IMAGES, and SYNC TEAM. And any others I have neglected to mention. 3. Edits to 17-007 [53:23+n] 6.3.2.2 Blank characters in free form, Table 6.2, Insert "END TEAM" entry into table and re-format (uglifying it slightly, as no longer rectangular). {Optional blank(s) between END and TEAM.} 4. Edits not moved ALTERNATIVE ONE: No edit. {Mandatory blank(s) between END and TEAM.} ===END===