RFR(M): 8202745: Remove hyphens from "out-of-bounds".

[John Rose]

On May 7, 2018, at 2:43 PM, David Holmes <david.holmes at oracle.com> wrote:
> 
> The grammar can be a bit subtle here. IIUC we would say:
> 
> "Index %d out of bounds for length %d"
> 
> but if we turn it around we'd say:
> 
> "out-of-bounds index %d for length %d"

+1  And the hyphens could be dropped altogether,
which I think reads better, usually.

(Grammarian hat donned.)

You _may_ use "out-of-bounds" when it modifies a noun.
The form "out-of-bounds" is a compound adjective.
It is the compound-adjective form of "out of bounds".

See Rule 1 of this page:
  https://www.grammarbook.com/punctuation/hyphens.asp

Rule 10 on the same page says compound adjectives
that are well known do not need hyphens.

A compound adjective usage can omit hyphens if it will
be well understood.

A compound-adjective usage can include hyphens if it
might not be well-understood.

Thus, hyphenating the compound adjective is sometimes
a matter of taste.

Here's bad grammar:  "Hyphenating the compound-adjective
is sometimes a matter-of-taste."  Hyphenating nouns is
only correct if the noun specifically requires it, like the
numbers between twenty-one and ninety-nine, as
the noted grammarian Salman Al-Azami might observe.

(Grammarian hat doffed.)