DDSXTY14 — Confusing classification of Annotations

In some places the specification talks about Annotations as if they were types but in others it does not. There are other inconsistencies in how they are described. For example 7.2.2.4.4.1 says:

There are three kinds of Aggregated Types: structures, unions, and annotations. These kinds are described in Table 8.

But Table 8 does not list them. And also they appear in a parallel section 7.3.2.9 at the same level as Aggregated Types, which contradicts them being an Aggregated Type.

Also in 7.3.1.2.4 It says:

Recall from the Type System Model that annotation types are a form of aggregated type similar to a structure. The members of these types shall be represented using IDL members, as shown in the following example:

In the IDL Type Representation there is a section about "Annotation Language" and talks about annotation types.

Annotation do have a TypeObject.

It seems that saying "Annotations are Types" is prone to cause some ambuguities because thet do not behave like other "types" that cannot be used to type members. aliases, collection elements, etc. So it may be better to modify the terminology and not treat them as types (other than having a TypeObject") or make it clear these are special.