Evaluation Rules

#Evaluation Rules# This section outlines a preliminary set of evaluation rules.

##Rule 1 - Revisiting## A path may only revisit validation parts.

##Rule 2 - Terminating ## A path that is successfully completed ends the process.

##Rule 3a - Path length, Identification phase## In the identification phase, the means of identification should be exhausted.

###Example### A shorter path might yield an inferior result in the identification phase.

file ?> xml !> xml -> obfl

would be shorter than

file ?> xml ?> dtbook !> dtbook -> obfl

but would not be as good as the latter.

In this example, ?> indicates identifying, !> indicates verifying and -> indicates converting.

##Rule 3b - Path length, Transformation phase## In the transformation phase, a shorter path is preferred over a longer one.

##Rule 4 - Failing ##

• If a part of type verify, enhance or convert fails, the process fails.
• If a part of type identify or fix fails, other viable parts may be tried with the same input.