Subject: SC 22 N 3143 - SC 22/WG 13 Business Plan/Convener's Report

From: Lisa Rajchel <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 14 Aug 2000 14:58:24 -0400

_____________________beginning of title page ____________________________

ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC22
Programming languages, their environments and system software interfaces
Secretariat:  U.S.A.  (ANSI)

ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC22
N3143

TITLE:
SC 22/WG 13 Business Plan/Convener's Report 

DATE ASSIGNED:
2000-08-14

SOURCE:
M. Schoenhacker, Convener, SC 22/WG 13

BACKWARD POINTER:
N/A

DOCUMENT TYPE:
Other (Defined)

PROJECT NUMBER:

STATUS:
This document will be discussed under Agenda Item 8.6 at the JTC 1/SC 22
Plenary Meeting. 

ACTION IDENTIFIER:
FYI to SC22 Member Bodies

DUE DATE:
N/A

DISTRIBUTION:
text

CROSS REFERENCE:

DISTRIBUTION FORM:
Def

Lisa Rajchel
ANSI
11 West 42nd Street
New York, NY  10036
Telephone:  (212) 642-4932
Fax:             (212) 840-2298
Email:  [email-masked] <mailto:[email-masked]> 

----- WG13 Convener's Report and Business Plan follows -------------
	Business Plan and Convener's Report
	ISO/IEC JTC1/SC22/WG13 (Modula-2)

	Document ISO/IEC JTC1/SC22/WG13 D263

PERIOD COVERED:
July 1999 - July 2000
SUBMITTED BY:
Convener of ISO/IEC JTC1/SC22/WG13
Dr. Martin Schoenhacker
Vienna University of Technology
Institute of Computer Graphics
Karlsplatz 13/1861
A-1040 Vienna, Austria
Phone: +43 1 58801 18617
Fax:   +43 1 58801 18699
EMail: [email-masked] <mailto:[email-masked]> 

currently also:
Franklin and Marshall College
Department of Mathematics and Computer Science
P.O. Box 3003, Lancaster, PA 17604-3003, USA
Phone: +1 717 291 4027
Fax:   +1 717 399 4507
EMail: [email-masked] <mailto:[email-masked]> 

	1.	MANAGEMENT SUMMARY

		1.1	JTC1/SC22/WG13 STATEMENT OF SCOPE

			Development of ISO/IEC Standards related to the
programming language Modula-2.

		1.2	PROJECT REPORT

			1.2.1	COMPLETED PROJECTS

JTC1.22.18.01 -- IS 10514-1 Modula-2, Base Language
IS 10514-1 was published June 1st, 1996.
So far, no serious problems have been reported.
JTC1.22.18.02 -- DIS 10514-3 Objected Oriented Modula-2
IS 10514-3 was published December 19th, 1998.
So far, no serious problems have been reported.
JTC1.22.18.04 -- DIS 10514-2 Generics in Modula-2
IS 10514-2 was published December 19th, 1998.
So far, no serious problems have been reported.

			1.2.2	PROJECTS UNDERWAY

JTC1.22.15436 -- Interfacing Modula-2 to C
This project to produce a Type 3 Technical Report has been assigned to WG13
following a letter ballot in January 1997.  It is currently in Working Draft
stage, as there have been severe delays due to lack of participation in the
project.  WG13 would however like to investigate the matter further, but
feels unable to set a clear deadline for proceeding to PDTR submission
stage.

			1.2.3	CANCELLED PROJECTS

				As requested by WG13 at the 1996 SC22
Plenary, the following projects formerly assigned to WG13 have been
terminated:
				JTC1.22.03 -- Modula-2 to Posix Binding
				JTC1.22.05 -- Support for Commercial
Programming in Modula-2
				JTC1.22.06 -- Further support for Concurrent
Programming in Modula-2

			1.2.4	COOPERATION AND COMPETITION

				WG13 has always tried to cooperate with as
many compiler writers as possible, and contacts to industry still work quite
well.  Although the general public is unfortunately not well aware of
Modula-2, there are various important applications.  In particular, the
language is being used in the implementation of safety-critical and/or
embedded systems, e.g. in car electronics and automated train control.
Also, it is being used as the implementation language for a word processing
package with an installed base of more than 20.000 copies, as well as for
teaching purposes at various universities.
				Where appropriate, WG13 has established
contact with other SC22 working groups.  There is no apparent direct
competition with any other efforts.

		2.0	PERIOD REVIEW

			IS 10514-1 (1996) is coming up for periodic review
in 2001.  Given that no subtantial problems have been brought to WG13's
attention so far, and that market requirements have not changed
considerably, it would seem appropriate to recommend confirmation of this
document. In addition, it should be noted that IS 10514-1 forms the basis
for the other parts of this multi-part standard, which have only been
published in December 1998.

2.1	MARKET REQUIREMENTS

WG13 reacted to strong demands by the Modula-2 user community in preparing
extensions to IS 10514-1.  In particular, there was popular demand for
Object Oriented Extensions, and it is hoped that the publication of IS
10514-3 will lead to a uniform way of handling these extensions in the
available compilers.  With regard to Generics, there was popular demand
mainly from academia which has also been met in IS 10514-2.  Finally, the
requirement for interfacing to libraries defined in the C language is being
handled by project JTC1.22.15436.  WG13 is currently not aware of any other
demands or concerns regarding Modula-2.

2.2	ACHIEVEMENTS

IS 10514-1 (Modula-2, Base Language) was published June 1st, 1996.
IS 10514-2 (Generics in Modula-2) was published December 19th, 1998.
IS 10514-3 (Object Oriented Extensions) was published December 19th,
		1998.
The WG13 Web site can be found at http://sc22wg13.twi.tudelft.nl/
<http://sc22wg13.twi.tudelft.nl/> 

2.3	RESOURCES

Although resources in general are declining, the future of the current WG13
projects seems to be secured.  There are project editors and backup project
editors for all the active projects, as well as for the completed Base
Language Standard.

3.0	FOCUS NEXT WORK PERIOD

For the upcoming work period, work on the Technical Report on Interfacing
Modula-2 to C will have to be progressed as quickly as possible.

3.1	DELIVERABLES

Project JTC1.22.15436 is hoped to produce a next working draft later this
business year, which will then be submitted to SC22 as a Type 3 PDTR, given
that WG13 agrees on the maturity of the document.

3.2	STRATEGIES

3.2.1	RISKS

Unexpectedly heavy technical comment could delay any of the strategies
described above.  However, no problems are anticipated.

3.2.2	OPPORTUNITIES

To speed up the process, WG13 may consider concurrent PDTR registration and
balloting if appropriate.

3.3	WORK PROGRAM PRIORITIES

Project JTC1.22.15436 is the only open project currently assigned to the
working group.

4.	OTHER ITEMS

This section lists other items that are not part of the "Business Plan" but
are appropriate for the Convener's Report.

4.1	PROJECT EDITORS

The following individuals serve as project editors and backup project
editors, respectively:
JTC1.22.18.01 -- Modula-2, Base Language
	Cornelis Pronk (main), Martin Schoenhacker (backup)
JTC1.22.18.02 -- Object Oriented Modula-2
	Albert Wiedemann (main), John Lancaster (backup
JTC1.22.18.04 -- Generics in Modula-2
	Richard J. Sutcliffe (main), Cornelis Pronk (backup)
JTC1.22.15436 -- Interfacing Modula-2 to C
	Eberhard Enger (main), Martin Schleusser (backup)

4.2	ELECTRONIC DOCUMENT DISTRIBUTION

WG13 has been working over e-mail for a considerable time now, and recent
decisions within the working group have mostly been taken using e-mail.
This seems the only practical way for the future, in particular as travel
budget appear to be shrinking everywhere.
In addition to the e-mail reflector, WG13 has its own ftp and Web sites
which have recently been expanded to offer more services (e.g.  FAQ and
Publications) to the Modula-2 community.

4.3	RECENT MEETINGS

The 12th meeting of WG13 took place at the University of Linz, Linz,
Austria, March 17th-18th, 1997.

4.4	FUTURE MEETINGS

Work on project JTC1.22.15436 will be coordinated using e-mail.
WG13 feels no need to schedule a meeting for this purpose alone.

----- end of WG13 Convener's Report and Business Plan --------------

______________________________________________
Dr. Martin Schoenhacker (Schönhacker)
Assistant Professor of Computer Science
Department of Mathematics and Computer Science
Franklin & Marshall College, Lancaster PA, USA
Phone: +1 (717)291-4027  Fax: +1 (717)399-4507