Subject: N3811-Recording Secretary's Meeting Report on the Future Directio ns for SC 22 Ad Hoc Session, 6 September 2004

From: Sally Seitz <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 14 Sep 2004 15:53:52 -0400

ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC22

Programming languages, their environments and system software interfaces

Secretariat:  U.S.A.  (ANSI)

ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC22 N3811

TITLE:

Recording Secretary's Meeting Report of the Future Directions for SC 22 Ad
Hoc Session, 6 September 2004

DATE ASSIGNED:

2004-09-15

SOURCE:

Ad Hoc Recording Secretary (S. Seitz)

BACKWARD POINTER:

DOCUMENT TYPE:

Meeting Report

PROJECT NUMBER:

STATUS:

This document was prepared by the Ad Hoc Recording Secretary.  

ACTION IDENTIFIER:

FYI

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open

Sally Seitz

ANSI

25 West 43rd Street

New York, NY  10036

Telephone:  (212) 642-4918

Fax:             (212) 840-2298

Email:  [email-masked] <mailto:[email-masked]> 

___________________end of cover page, beginning of document____________

Ad Hoc on Future SC 22 Direction

6 September 2004

Convener-Jonathan Hodgson

It was noted that the agenda for the meeting, as well as a contribution to
the Ad Hoc by Jim Moore would be assigned SC 22 document numbers and
circulated.

Mr. Hodgson began the discussion by listing four topics that SC 22 could
explore as future project areas:

1.)    Inter-language communication

2.)    High Integrity applications

3.)    New functionality; e.g. to simplify parallel processing,
high-performance computing, distributed data or distributed processing

4.)    New languages

Members of the Ad Hoc suggested the following as possible future project
areas:

1.)    Standards education

2.)    Functionality

3.)    Uniformity of interfaces (please note TR 18037)

The topic of LINUX was brought up, but quickly tabled by the convener as
there is time assigned to the SC 22 Plenary Agenda for this discussion.

Mr. Hodgson began with a contribution from Mr. Moore, which suggested the
creation of a new work group in SC 22, with the suggested scope of the
development of language independent and cross-language guidance for the
selection and use of programming languages in high-integrity systems.  Mr.
Moore's proposal outlined the following projects that could be considered by
the WG:

1.)    A guide to selecting a programming language suitable to a
high-integrity usage.

2.)    A comparison of programming language characteristics suitable to high
integrity usage

3.)    Standards for meta-language constructions-e.g. assertions and other
mechanisms for demonstrating correctness in a manner that is uniform or
comparable across programming languages.

4.)    Standards for subsets, profiles of dialects of programming languages
suitable for high-integrity applications

5.)    Guidance for usage of programming languages in a manner suitable for
high-integrity applications.

Members of the Ad Hoc looked favorably upon the idea of this new WG, but
agreed that this step is at least a year away.  The group must consider all
other areas of future projects before proposing a new WG.

The Convener explained that his intention for the group was to come up with
a list of topics that could be explored in the coming year before next
year's SC 22 Plenary meeting.  He anticipates that a meeting of this group
could take place in six months time to explore any findings.  

It was noted by the Japanese delegation that perhaps the creation of an Ad
Hoc is not necessary.  SC 22 could continue as it has been, with new project
areas being proposed as New Work Item Proposals by either National Bodies or
WGs.  The role of this Ad Hoc should be a brainstorming session to encourage
NBs and WGs to propose New Work Items.  

The Chair of SC 22 noted his desire for new project areas to be explored by
the subcommittee, as the last area of new work began thirteen years ago.
Currently, SC 22 is maintaining and improving languages and projects already
in existence.  

The Free Standards Group suggested that the SC 22 explore doing work on
libraries, more specifically, a standard on what a library should contain
and the interfaces that should be used..

The Convener noted that many industries and domains are modifying languages
to suit their needs.  These groups need to be made aware that SC 22 can
assist with the development of languages, or modifications to languages,
that can suit their needs.  These comments began a discussion on the
importance of educating those outside of SC 22 on the work of the committee.

It was agreed that more emphasis must be put on educating corporations and
consortia on the work of SC 22.  It was suggested that an informal workshop
be included into the Plenary schedule for next year's SC 22 meeting, but it
was quickly agreed that the target audience would not be reached.  It was
suggested that such a "workshop" be offered in conjunction with some other
conference or meeting.  

The idea of corporate sponsorship of WGs was brought up, and it was agreed
that the creation of a list containing all the corporations who have
sponsored WG meetings in the last five years be compiled.  This list could
serve as a basis for where SC 22 educational "workshops" could be marketed.

Further discussion ensued on the high visibility and usage of the SC 22 WG
sites, as explored in the Google search engine.  It was agreed that this
data shows value in the SC 22 sites, it does not mean that the SC 22 message
is reaching all that it needs to.  

The Ad Hoc concluded with the following four topics that would be explored
further, along with the Ad Hoc members who volunteered to explore them and
create a report by 15 January 2004 on the risks and benefits of further
exploration by SC 22 or it's Ad Hoc on Future Directions:

1.)    High Integrity Systems-Jim Moore

2.)    Libraries-Jonathan Hodgson

3.)    Workshop Outreach

4.)    Industry Consortia-John Hill

The Ad Hoc Convener noted his willingness to host the next meeting of the
participants, be it in one Ad Hoc or four Ad Hocs separated by topic, in
Pennsylvania in February 2005.  It was also noted that a call for
contributions would be issued with a closing date two months prior to the
meeting.  Only topics that have a written contribution associated with them
will be discussed at the meeting.  If no such contributions are received,
the meeting will be cancelled.  This will assist in keeping the discussions
focused and controlled.

The meeting concluded with the SC 22 Chair expressing his gratitude to the
Convener, Mr. Hogdson, for a job well done.  

 

Sally Seitz

Program Administrator

ANSI

25 West 43rd Street

New York, NY 10036

Phone: (212) 642-4918

Fax: (212) 840-2298