>The reason I'm asking is because somebody on the W3C HTML development list
>suggested that it might be a good idea if there were a public Internet
>registry of magic numbers, given as-official-as-it-get status by an RFC which
>software developers could quote.
I assume we're talking about an informational RFC, not a standards-track
one, right? Does the W3C want to make something like this a Recommendation,
too? (I assume not, but since the PNG spec just became the first one and
has been approved as an RFC as well, I thought I'd ask...)
>I'd like to help (coauthor) any RFC. I really want to see this done
>right. I also happen to have some experience with standards.
I've also been peripherally involved with the PNG and deflate/zlib/gzip
standards, but I don't claim any particular experience on that basis, nor
time to do anything substantial, so you two are more than welcome to do
the hard work... :-)
>We might also want to bring in Greg Roelofs <newt@uchicago.edu>. He
>designed the magic for PNG and might have a few good ideas.
"newt@pobox.com" is the preferred address these days. I expect that it
will be permanent.
>Yes, I know the acronym is weak. Suggestions for improvement welcomed.
"magically approximate group of identification codes"?
or maybe
"magically associated group of identification codes"
"magically approximate group of Internet codes"
"magically associated group of Internet codes"
"magic atoms of gory identification codes"
"massive amounts of gooey Internet crap"
"mostly ..."
"mainly ..."
"maybe ..."
"magnificently ..."
"malignantly ..."
"monstrously ..."
"morbidly ..."
etc.
-- Greg Roelofs newt@pobox.com http://pobox.com/~newt/ Newtware, Info-ZIP, PNG Group, U Chicago, Philips Research, ...