Subject: SC22 N2442 - TC1 to IS 10279 - Basic - Reconsideration

From: "william c. rinehuls" <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 25 Mar 1997 17:08:19 -0500 (EST)

(Please note that this document contains an action item for the August
1997 SC22 Plenary.)

________________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
N2442

March 1997

TITLE:              Technical Corrigendum 1 to ISO/IEC 10279:1991 -
                    Programming Language Basic - Reconsideration

SOURCE:             Secretariat, ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC22

WORK ITEM:          JTC 1.22.11

STATUS:             Please note that this will be an agenda item for the
                    August 1997 SC22 Plenary

CROSS REFERENCE:    SC22 N1853, N1987

DOCUMENT TYPE:      N/A

ACTION:             To SC22 Member Bodies and HODs for discussion at
                    the August 1997 SC22 Plenary.

Address reply to:
ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC22 Secretariat
William C. Rinehuls
8457 Rushing Creek Court
Springfield, VA 22153  USA
Tel:  +1 (703) 912-9680
Fax:  +1 (703) 912-2973
email:  [email-masked]

____________________end of title page; beginning of text _________________

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

TO:       P and L Members, Working Group Conveners and Heads of Delegation

SUBJECT:  Technical Corrigendum 1 to ISO/IEC 10279:1991 - Programming Language Full Basic

As directed by SC22 at its 1996 Plenary, Mr. Tom Kurtz, Project Editor of  
Basic, prepared subject Technical Corrigendum for publication and I
forwarded it to ISO/IEC ITTF.  Shortly thereafter, Mr. Kurtz received a
marked up copy from the ISO CS with several minor formatting changes and a
request that all references in the Technical Corrigendum be changed to  
refer to ISO/IEC 10279.  (They currently reference ANSI X3.113-1987.)

This latter request to change references has caused some difficulty given  
the following short history:  

American Standards Committee X3 published a set of interpretations on
Basic  and it was noted that some of the interpretations were really
changes to ANSI X3.113-1987 as they suggested modified text.  SC22 asked
Mr. Kurtz to make a few modifications to the US document and produce a  
Technical Corrigendum for ISO/IEC 10279.  It should be noted that ISO/IEC
10279 refers to ANSI X3.113 for its technical content and includes revised
clauses dealing only with conformance as SC22 desired to allow both ANSI
X3.113 and ECMA 116 to conform.

Since ISO/IEC 10279 does not contain the technical content of Programming  
Language Full Basic, it is not possible to change all the references in
the Technical Corrigendum to refer to ISO/IEC 10279 since the changes are
to the technical content contained only in ANSI X3.113.

I contacted Mr. Keith Brannon at ISO/IEC ITTF in this regard and he  
responded that the ISO/IEC standing policy is that they cannot publish a
Technical Corrigendum to an equivalent ANSI standard; the Corrigendum must
be to the ISO/IEC version.  After discussing this issue with Mr. Robert  
Follett, SC22 Chairman, I responded to Mr. Brannon that, in view of this
standing policy, I felt that SC22 should reexamine its approval of the
Technical Corrigendum and asked that the publication of this Technical
Corrigendum be held in abeyance until I contacted him following the SC22
Plenary in August 1997.

In summary:  IS 10279 refers to ANSI X3.113 for its technical content.  IS  
10279 only contains revised clauses dealing with conformance.  The TC
contains no corrections to the revised conformance clauses; all the
corrections are to ANSI X3.113.

The reexamination of this issue by SC22 will be an agenda item for the  
August 1997 SC22 Plenary.

Sincerely

WILLIAM C. RINEHULS
Secretariat, JTC 1/SC22

_______________________-end of SC22 N2442 ______________________