GPIB and the battle of incompatible languages

The author outlines what the IEEE 488.1 and 488.2 standards cover with regard to operating language, what specifications are available, and detailed instructions on how to design a language which facilitates user tolerance. Various features of language design are considered, including mnemonics, minimum uniqueness, the command table, the required characters table, the offset table, and search routines. The problem of the conflict between so-called GPIB (general-purpose interface bus)-compatible instruments, which in fact are compatible, is addressed. It is concluded that, as the instrument specific language standards that are available are not universally accepted or applied, the use of an English-like language is one of the best ways to avoid compatibility problems