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What do "N" and "P" in the codes of the proposals to the C++ standard mean?

Here is the list of GCC's standard support status. You can see the proposals are like "P0245R1" or "N4051", etc. (The "R", I assume, means "revision").

curiousguy
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Leedehai
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    "P" - proposal maybe? – user7860670 May 16 '18 at 09:16
  • @VTT I thought it means "proposal", but that interpretation leaves no room for "N".. – Leedehai May 16 '18 at 09:22
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    *"Technical contributions to be discussed in committee are written up as N-numbered papers."* [Source](https://isocpp.org/std/meetings-and-participation/papers-and-mailings). So I guess it just stands for "Number"? – Baum mit Augen May 16 '18 at 09:24
  • Howefer, that would raise the question what the difference between a proposal and an N-paper is to begin with. – Baum mit Augen May 16 '18 at 09:32
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    N-numbers indicate official ISO documents and must follow formal ISO rules for format and distribution. P-numbers are not regulated by ISO. – Bo Persson May 16 '18 at 11:00
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    I speculate that **N** derives from **NP** (new work item proposal) and **P** from **PWI** (preliminary work item) as shown in [ISO/IEC Acronym Summary](http://metadata-standards.org/acronym_summary.html), but I don't have evidence to prove it. – Toby Speight May 22 '18 at 09:23

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From SD-7: Mailing Procedures and How to Write Papers:

Meeting announcements, minutes, working drafts, editor’s reports, and official document submissions (CD, PDTS, etc.), and records of response must use N numbers.

All other documents should use P numbers.

Documents circulated as drafts should have D numbers (Dxxxx for N documents, and D0xxxRn for P documents). Only documents for publication should have the N or P numbers.

user7860670
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