Subject: SC 22 N 3308 - JTC 1/SC 22/WG 19 Business Plan and Convenor's Rep ort

From: Matthew Deane <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 10 Sep 2001 14:38:29 -0400

ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC22
Programming languages, their environments and system software interfaces
Secretariat:  U.S.A.  (ANSI)
 
ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC22 N3308
 
TITLE:
JTC 1/SC 22/WG 19 Business Plan and Convenor's Report

DATE ASSIGNED:
2001-09-10
 
SOURCE:
SC 22/WG 19 Convenor (R. Scowen)

BACKWARD POINTER:
N/A
 
DOCUMENT TYPE:
Other document (Open)

PROJECT NUMBER:
N/A
 
STATUS:
This document will be reviewed at the upcoming SC 22 Plenary under Agenda
Item 8.11 pending the approval of its addition to the agenda.

ACTION IDENTIFIER:
FYI
 
DUE DATE:
  
DISTRIBUTION:
Text

CROSS REFERENCE:
 
DISTRIBUTION FORM:
Open
 
Address reply to:
ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC22 Secretariat
Matt Deane
ANSI
25 West 43rd Street
New York, NY  10036
Telephone:  (212) 642-4992
Fax:             (212) 840-2298
Email:  [email-masked]

_______end of cover page, beginning of report____________

BUSINESS PLAN AND CONVENER'S REPORT

ISO/IEC JTC1/SC22/WG19 (FORMAL DEFINITION LANGUAGES)

PERIOD COVERED: 
September 2000 - August 2001

SUBMITTED BY: 
R S Scowen  (ISO/IEC JTC1 SC22 WG19 Convener)
9 Birchwood Grove, Hampton, Middlesex
United Kingdom     TW12 3DU
Tel: +44 (0)20 8979 7429;        Fax: +44 (0)20 8287 3810;
E-mail: [email-masked]
6 September 2001

1. MANAGEMENT SUMMARY

1.1 JTC1/SC22/WG19 STATEMENT OF SCOPE 

  Development of ISO/IEC standards related to formal development 
  notations and methods.

1.2 PROJECT REPORT 

1.2.1 COMPLETED PROJECTS 

JTC1.22.29.01 -- ISO/IEC 13817-1 Vienna Development 
  Method/Specification Language - Part 1: Base Language

  ISO/IEC 13817-1 was published in 1996.  So far, no 
  major problems have been reported.

JTC1.22.14977 -- ISO/IEC 14997 Syntactic metalanguage - Extended BNF

  ISO/IEC 14977 was published in 1996.  So far, no 
  major problems have been reported.

1.2.2 PROJECTS UNDERWAY 

JTC1.22.45 -- ISO/IEC 13568 Z Notation

  The 2nd FCD 13568 (SC22 N3187) was approved in a ballot ending in
  March 2001.  The ballot was approved (see N3224).  A ballot
  resolution meeting was held in May 2001 (see N3252 for minutes).  The
  disposition of comments and FDIS will be published shortly: a delay
  arose after the project editor realised further investigations were
  necessary in one annex. The FDIS is scheduled for October 2001, and
  it is hoped to publish the standard as ISO/IEC 13568:2002 in March
  2002.

1.2.3 NEW PROJECTS

  ISO/IEC 14977:1996 is to be revised and some correspondence has taken
  place.  WG19 intend to prepare a revision in order to correct a few
  known minor errors, and also to improve its applicability.

1.3 COOPERATION AND COMPETITION 

  WG19 has always tried to cooperate with the whole formal development
  methods community.  Where appropriate, WG19 has established contact
  with other SC22 working groups. There is no direct competition with
  any other efforts.

2.0 PERIOD REVIEW 

2.1 MARKET REQUIREMENTS 

  Formal development methods have often been developed in academia.
  Standardization will give credibility to their work, and encourage
  their tuition and future developments to be built on sound and 
  common foundations.

2.2 ACHIEVEMENTS 

  ISO/IEC 13817-1 (VDM, Base language) was published in 1996.

  FCD 13568 (Z notation) was published in August 2000.

  ISO/IEC 14977 (Syntactic metalanguage - Extended BNF) was published in
1996.

  The Z standardization web site is at:
     http://www-users.cs.york.ac.uk/~ian/zstan/

2.3 RESOURCES 

  Although resources in general are declining, the future of the
  current WG19 projects seems to be secured. The WG19 mailing list
  includes experts from Australia, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany,
  Ireland, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, United Kingdom, & USA.

3.0 FOCUS NEXT WORK PERIOD 

  For the upcoming work period, WG19's main task will be to publish 
  ISO/IEC FDIS 13568 and ISO/IEC 13568:2002.

  WG19 will also start the revision of ISO/IEC 14977.

3.1 DELIVERABLES 

  ISO/IEC 13568 Z notation
  Publication of FDIS                      2001-10-01
  Camera ready copy of standard to ITTF    2002-03-01

  ISO/IEC 14977 Extended BNF
  Version for CD registration and ballot   2002-06-01
  
3.2 STRATEGIES 
 
  WG19 has two principal strategies: (1) technical excellence, and 
  (2) liaison with all interested parties

3.2.1 RISKS 

  No problems are anticipated for Z. Consensus may be difficult to
  achieve in Extended BNF.

3.2.2 OPPORTUNITIES 

  The standards would undoubtedly be more widely adopted if freely
  available electronically over the web.

3.3 WORK PROGRAM PRIORITIES 

  The completion of ISO/IEC 13568 has priority.

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 ACTION REQUEST AT FORTHCOMING PLENARY

  WG19 requests permission from SC22 to continue development on ISO/IEC
  13568 even though the FDIS has not followed CD registration within
  three years. In mitigation we would note that many comments (over
  400) were received on the first CD which resulted in a complete
  reworking of the Z standard.  There were far fewer comments on the 
  2nd FCD and we have made very good progress towards FDIS balloting.

4.2 CONVENER AND PROJECT EDITORS

  Roger Scowen is the convener of WG19, and Steve King is deputy convener.

  The following individuals have been appointed project editors:

  JTC1.22.29.01 -- Vienna Development Method
    Derek Andrews

  JTC1.22.45    -- Z notation
    Ian Toyn (deputy: Susan Stepney)

  JTC1.22.14977 -- Extended BNF
    Roger Scowen (to be appointed)

4.4 ELECTRONIC DOCUMENT DISTRIBUTION

  As far as possible, discussions and decisions within the 
  working group are taken using e-mail.

4.5 RECENT MEETING

  The last meeting of WG19 took place in York, England on 15 May 2001.

4.6 FUTURE MEETINGS

  No future meetings are currently planned.

5 DRAFT RESOLUTIONS FOR SC22

  The following draft resolutions arise from clauses 1.2.2 and 4.2 
  in the report above.

5.1 EXTENSION TO COMPLETE ISO/IEC 13568: Z Notation

  SC22 recommends to JTC1 that a year's extension is granted 
  to WG19 in which to publish the FDIS for ISO/IEC 13568.

5.2 APPOINTMENT OF WG19 PROJECT EDITOR

  SC22 appoints Roger Scowen as project editor for the revision 
  of ISO/IEC 14977.

--------------------- End of 2001 WG19 report to SC22 -------------