Project: IEEE P802.15 Working Group for Wireless Personal Area Networks (WPANs)

1. Project: IEEE P802.15 Working Group for Wireless Personal Area Networks (WPANs) Submission Title: The silence of the hyphens Date Submitted: 9th March 2011 Source: Joachim W. Walewski Company: Siemens AG Address: Otto-Hahn-Ring 6, Munich, Germany Voice: +49-89-636-45850 E-Mail: joachim.walewski (curly a) siemens.com Re: N/A Abstract: I explain the concept of compound modifiers and why I felt the need to comment on this again in sponsor ballot 2. Purpose: Aiding the TG in understanding the motivation of my compound-modifier-related comments in sponsor ballot 2. Notice: This document has been prepared to assist the IEEE P802.15. It is offered as a basis for discussion and is not binding on the contributing individual(s) or organization(s). The material in this document is subject to change in form and content after further study. The contributor(s) reserve(s) the right to add, amend or withdraw material contained herein. Release: The contributor acknowledges and accepts that this contribution becomes the property of IEEE and may be made publicly available by P802.15. Joachim W. Walewski, Siemens AG

2. The silence of the hyphens Joachim W. Walewski Corporate Technology Communication Technologies Siemens AG Joachim W. Walewski, Siemens AG

3. Crash course on compound modifiers • Adjectives that consist of more than one word. • Examples • two-dimensional detector, i.e. a detector operating in two dimensions • role-playing technique, i.e. a technique based on role playing • So why is the “binding hyphen” needed? • Clarity. Compare for instance • four-weekly reports ↔ four weekly reports • pro-EU lobby ↔ pro EU lobby • fast-sailing ship ↔ fast sailing ship • Flow of reading (usually the paramount advantage) Joachim W. Walewski, Siemens AG

4. What has IEEE SA to say on compound modifiers? IEEE style guide: “13.6 Hyphenation: In most cases, compound adjectives (such as fiber-optic cable, lead-acid batteries, power-operated valve assemblies) should be hyphenated. IEEE-SA project editors check documents for consistency of hyphenation; when the working group has a decided preference (such as life cycle process), that preference will be enforced. The use of hyphenated multiple adjectives (such as compressed-air-actuated power tools) should be limited to cases where such use is necessary to ensure comprehension.” • Should: "For general style not outlined in this manual, the IEEE Standards Activities Department follows The Chicago Manual of Style [B1] as the primary reference.”  explains compound modifiers in more detail. Web reference on this topic: http://docstyles.com/archive%5Ccmscrib.pdf (page 3) • Should: my thoughts on this later … (slide 9) Joachim W. Walewski, Siemens AG

5. Why all these „compound-modifier“ comments in sponsor ballot 2? • LB 57: Made some specific requests (misspelled them as “composite modifiers”) • Posted comment addressing all defunct modifiers in sponsor ballot 1 (CID 112) • Committee decision: “The technical editor has fixed the cases pointed out in the comment. The draft will be professionally copy-edited by IEEE editors before publication, and they will take care of any cases that have been missed.” • So, why did I make all these comments during sponsor ballot 2 anyway? • Historical research in the meanwhile showed me that IEEE 802.15 editors do not adhere to this part of the SA style guide. • Sounds harsh, but I have AMPLE evidence … Joachim W. Walewski, Siemens AG

6. Missing hyphens in IEEE 802.15.4-2006 And this just from a cursory glance at parts of the TOC! • 5.3.1 Star-network formation • 5.5.2 Data-transfer model • 5.5.5 Power-consumption considerations • 6.2 PHY-service specifications • 6.5 2450 MHz-PHY specifications • 6.7 868/915 MHz-band (optional) amplitude-shift-keying (ASK) -PHY specifications (ouch!!!) • 7. MAC-sublayer specification • 6.2.3 PHY-enumerations description (ouch!) • 6.3.3 Frame-Length field • 6.5.3 2450 MHz-band-radio specification • 6.5.3.1 Transmit-powerspectral-density (PSD) mask • 6.6.1 868/915 MHz-band data rates • 6.6.3 868/915 MHz-band-radio specification • 7.1 MAC-sublayer service specification • 7.1.5 Beacon-notification primitive • 7.1.12 Communication-status primitive • 7.1.17 MAC-enumeration description • 7.3.1 Association-request command • 7.3.2 Association-response command • 7.3.7 Beacon-request command And on and on we go … Joachim W. Walewski, Siemens AG

7. So, maybe, TG 15.4 simply banned all hyphens in compound modifiers? • 5.3.2 Peer-to-peer network formation • 5.5.2.3 Peer-to-peer data transfers • 6.1.6 Out-of-band spurious emission • 5.5.4.1 CSMA-CA mechanism • 6.5.2.2 Bit-to-symbol mapping • 6.5.2.3 Symbol-to-chip mapping • … Conclusion: nope! Joachim W. Walewski, Siemens AG

8. Don’t like hyphenated compound modifiers? • Agree: compound modifiers are usually bad style [Day, 1995; Day, 1998] • Avoid them! • As simple as that! • Especially easy in headings! • Example from IEEE 802.15.4-2006: “7.1.11 Primitives for channel scanning” (instead of “Channel-scanning primitives”) Joachim W. Walewski, Siemens AG

9. References • R. A. Day, “Scientific English”, Greenwood, 1995 • R. A. Day, “How To Write & Publish a Scientific Paper”, Oryx Press, 1998 Joachim W. Walewski, Siemens AG