<div dir="ltr">Steve,<div><br></div><div>Please explain to me how use cases are exclusive and not inclusive?<div><br></div><div> -- Paul<br><div><br></div><div><br></div></div></div></div><br><div class="gmail_quote gmail_quote_container"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Fri, Jun 6, 2025 at 1:21 PM Steve Allen via fitsbits <<a href="mailto:fitsbits@listmgr.nrao.edu">fitsbits@listmgr.nrao.edu</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">On Fri 2025-06-06T11:20:13-0400 Barrett, Paul via fitsbits hath writ:<br>
> I must disagree that my question is beyond the FITS specification. Good<br>
> software design provides use cases that are used to inform and define the<br>
> specification. They help to illuminate corner cases that the software needs<br>
> to properly handle. Otherwise, the software will produce nonsense in these<br>
> situations. So I am basically asking a use case question and how it informs<br>
> and defines the FITS specification.<br>
<br>
FITS aims at being inclusive not exclusive, descriptive rather than<br>
prescriptive. FITS allows me to transcribe data from tables in<br>
historical literature into FITS table extensions even though the<br>
authors of those tables used concepts and units which were unclear to<br>
them at the time and have since been redefined in common usage.<br>
<br>
FITS can never fix that kind of problem of "what do these data really<br>
mean?", but it should not prevent their preservation and transfer.<br>
<br>
--<br>
Steve Allen <<a href="mailto:sla@ucolick.org" target="_blank">sla@ucolick.org</a>> WGS-84 (GPS)<br>
UCO/Lick Observatory--ISB 260 Natural Sciences II, Room 165 Lat +36.99855<br>
1156 High Street Voice: +1 831 459 3046 Lng -122.06015<br>
Santa Cruz, CA 95064 <a href="https://www.ucolick.org/~sla/" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.ucolick.org/~sla/</a> Hgt +250 m<br>
<br>
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