Document goals and non-goals

Author: stasm

guidelines/goals.md

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+# Goals and Non-Goals
+
+## Goals
+
+The goals define the purpose of the Message Format Working Group (MFWG) and
+inform the decisions about the scope and the priorities of its efforts.
+
+### Data model for defining translations
+
+  - Create a description of a data model representing translation units
+    (_messages_). The data model will be agnostic with respect to the file
+    format and the programming environment.
+
+  - Design the data model for representing collections of translation
+    units (_resources_).
+
+  - Make it possible to express complex grammatical features, such as plurals,
+    genders, and inflections, catalogued in the CLDR.
+
+  - Make it possible to express other variance in translation, due to
+    other linguistic and regional features not listed in the CLDR, as well as
+    due to the presentation media, context, circumstance, and other factors.
+
+### Canonical syntax representing the data model
+
+  - Design the canonical text representation of the data model, with well
+    defined rules for handling text, special characters, escape sequences,
+    whitespace, and markup.
+
+  - Define parsing errors and the requirements for how to handle them.
+
+  - Allow other representations of the data model, optimized for other uses and
+    audiences, to coexist with the canonical syntax.
+
+### Compatibility with the localization industry practices
+
+  - Ensure that the data model is interoperable with existing interchange
+    formats. In particular, specify how to losslessly convert translations to
+    and from XLIFF.
+
+  - Ensure that the data model allows the use of machine translation and
+    translation memory solutions for authoring translations.
+
+### Runtime interpolation and formatting
+
+  - Specify the steps involved in resolving translations at runtime to allow
+    their use in building localized experiences for users.
+
+  - Define the data types which can be interpolated in translations, and
+    specify how they're interpolated. Define the error scenarios and error
+    handling.
+
+  - Enable a wide range of user space solutions building on top of the data
+    model and the runtime specification, manifesting different ideas and
+    programming paradigms.
+
+
+## Non-Goals
+
+The following is a list of potential goals which are explicitly excluded from
+the scope of the MFWG.
+
+  - Design a __general interchange format__ for storing and transferring
+    translations. 
+
+  - Support __all grammatical features of all languages__.
+
+  - Create an __automated engine__ capable of transforming parts of speech in
+    a grammatically-correct fashion.
+
+  - Create optimized and efficient __implementations of the standard__.
+
+  - Build a __framework for localizing software__.