2024-03-01

Understanding PubID Algebra — How Standards Documents Relate

Standards documents don't exist in isolation. They have relationships: amendments modify base standards, corrigenda fix errors, standards come in multiple parts, and one publisher may adopt another's standard. PubID algebra gives these relationships formal structure.

#Why Algebra Matters

Without a formal model of identifier relationships:

You can't programmatically find all amendments to a standard
You can't determine that ISO 9001:2015/Amd 1:2024 is a supplement to ISO 9001:2015
You can't identify adopted standards like BS ISO 9001:2015 as British Standard's adoption of the ISO original
You can't bundle related documents for procurement or reference

#The Core Relations

#Amendment

An amendment modifies a base standard by adding, changing, or deleting specified elements.

Publisher	Example
ISO	`ISO 9001:2015/Amd 1:2024`
IEC	`IEC 61131-3:2013/AMD1:2019`
CEN	`EN 196-3:2005+A1:2008`

#Corrigendum

A corrigendum corrects technical or editorial errors without adding new content.

Publisher	Example
ISO	`ISO 9001:2015/Cor 1:2016`
IEC	`CISPR 16-1-3:2004/COR1:2006`

#Part

Multi-part standards are related through part numbers.

Publisher	Example
ISO/IEC	`ISO/IEC 17031-1:2020` (Part 1)
IEEE	`IEEE Std 802.3-2018`

#Adoption

One publisher may adopt another's standard, often with national modifications.

Publisher	Example
BSI	`BS ISO 9001:2015` (UK adoption of ISO)
CEN	`EN ISO 13485:2016` (European adoption of ISO)
CSA	`CAN/CSA-ISO 9001:2016` (Canadian adoption)

#Consolidated

A consolidated version incorporates all amendments into the base standard.

Publisher	Example
IEC	`IEC 60950-1:2005+AMD1:2009+AMD2:2013 CSV`
CEN	`EN 196-3:2005+A1:2008`

#Implementation

In the PubID Ruby library, algebraic relations are modeled as first-class objects:

# Parse an identifier with a supplement
id = Pubid::Iso.parse("ISO 9001:2015/Amd 1:2024")

# Access the supplement
id.supplement  # => Amendment object

# Parse an adopted standard
id = Pubid::Bsi.parse("BS ISO 9001:2015")
id.adoption  # => The adopted ISO identifier

#Learn More

PubID Algebra reference — All relation types with examples
Browse publishers — Per-publisher algebra support
Library Quick Start — Start parsing identifiers