Subject: SC 22 N 3158 - SC 22/WG 19 Business Plan/Convener's Report

From: Lisa Rajchel <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 27 Aug 2000 12:42:23 -0400

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

ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC22
N3158

TITLE:
SC 22/WG 19 Business Plan/Convener's Report 

DATE ASSIGNED:
2000-08-27

SOURCE:
J. Wordsworth, Convener, SC 22/WG 19

BACKWARD POINTER:
N/A

DOCUMENT TYPE:
Other (Defined)

PROJECT NUMBER:

STATUS:
This document will be discussed under Agenda Item 8.11 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]> 

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BUSINESS PLAN AND CONVENER'S REPORT
ISO/IEC JTC1/SC22/WG19 (Formal Specification Languages)
PERIOD COVERED:
September 1999 to August 2000
SUBMITTED BY:
Convener, ISO/IEC JTC1/SC22/WG19
John Wordsworth
IBM United Kingdom Laboratories
MP 094 Hursley Park
Winchester
Hants SO21 2JN
UK

Email: [email-masked] <mailto:[email-masked]> 
Phone: +44 1962 815700

1: MANAGEMENT SUMMARY
1.1: JTC1/SC22/WG19 STATEMENT OF SCOPE
WG 19 is responsible for formal methods activities, formal specification
languages, and syntactic metalanguages.  It is currently responsible for two
specification languages, VDM-SL and Z Notation, and for the syntactic
metalanguage Extended BNF.
1.2: PROJECT REPORT
1.2.1: COMPLETED PROJECTS
None in this period.
1.2.2: PROJECTS UNDER WAY
JTC1.22.45 - Z Notation
A Final CD was ballotted in 1999, and may comments were received  The
Disposition of Comments meeting was held in York, United Kingdom on
2000-03-21, and this was supplemented with email correspondence and further
meetings.  A Disposition of Comments report is still in preparation.
1.2.3: CANCELLED PROJECTS
JTC1.22.29.02 - Vienna Development Method Part 2 was cancelled at the
plenary meeting in Berlin in September 1999.
1.2.4: COOPERATION AND COMPETITION
The work of the VDM group involves collaborative work of six participating
P-members: UK, Denmark, Holland, France, Japan and the USA.
The work of the Z group involves the participation of members from the UK,
USA, Australia, Japan, Germany, France, Italy, Brazil, Canada, Ireland, and
New Zealand.
There are no competitive activities.
2: PERIOD REVIEW
2.1: MARKET REQUIREMENTS
The increasing interest in safety-critical systems and in secure systems
suggests a continuing interest in the use of formal notations like Z and
VDM.  Industrial users of the notations continue to exert pressure for
standards, and contribute people's time to the work.
2.2: ACHIEVEMENTS
Consensus Working Draft for the Z Notation based on the FCD and the comments
received.
2.3: RESOURCES
The convener has received support from IBM United Kingdom Laboratories for
his work and expenses, but plans to retire at the end of September.  MR
ROger Scowen has offered to take over as convener of the working group.
The project editor for Z Notation has received support for his work from the
University of York.
Technical work is supported by a wide range of academic, industrial, and
government organizations.
3: FOCUS NEXT WORK PERIOD
For the Z Notation project:
Task 1.  To complete the Disposition of Comments report and to publish a
DIS.
Task 2.  To prepare proposals for further work based on the requirements of
the worldwide academic and business communities.
For the BNF project
Task 1.  To evaluate the proposals for changes to "ISO/IEC 14977:1996 -
Syntactic Metalanguage - Extended BNF".
3.1: DELIVERABLES
The following deliverables are planned:
DIS for Z Notation - about November 2000
List of proposals for further work on the Z Notation - about November 2000
3.2: STRATEGIES
For the Z Notation: To consolidate proposals for further standardization
work, to estimate the likely resources needed, and to canvass support for
the required technical work.
3.3: RISKS
None.
3.4: OPPORTUNITIES
To be investigated as described in STRATEGIES above.
3.5: WORK PROGRAM PRIORITIES
The tasks to be undertaken in each project in the order stated.
4: OTHER ITEMS
4.1: POSSIBLE ACTION REQUESTS AT THE FORTHCOMING PLENARY
To recomend confimation of  "ISO/IEC 13817-1:1996 - Vienna Development
Method Specification Language -Part 1:  Base Language", which is due for
periodic review.
To recommend revision of  "ISO/IEC 14977:1996 -   Syntactic Metalanguage -
Extended BNF", which is due for periodic revies.  Suggestions for
improvements have been received from users, namely the project editor of the
Z Notation project (JTC1.22.45).
4.2: PROJECT EDITORS
There is no Project Editor for the VDM-SL project.
Dr Ian Toyn continues as project editor of the Z Notation project.
				Dr Ian Toyn,
				Dept of Computer Science,
				University of York,
				York YO1 5DD
				UK

Email: [email-masked] <mailto:[email-masked]> 
Phone: +44 1904 433386

4.3: ELECTRONIC DOCUMENT DISTRIBUTION
Much of the work of the group is carried out by email, and by the electronic
distribution of proposals and drafts. Some documents are accessible from the
Internet, and by FTP.
4.4: RECENT MEETINGS
The following meetings was devoted to the work of the Z Notation project:
21 March 2000 - York, UK
4.5: FUTURE MEETINGS
None planned.
John Wordsworth
MP 094, IBM United Kingdom Laboratories, Hursley Park, Winchester, Hants
SO21 2JN, UK
Tel: 44-(0)1962 815700  Fax: 44-(0)1962 842327
Email: [email-masked] <mailto:[email-masked]> 
IBM Intranet: w3.hursley.ibm.com/~jbwords
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