ISO/IEC JTC = 1/SC22

Programming languages, their environments = and system software interfaces

Secretariat: U.S.A. = (ANSI)

ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC22 N3964

TITLE:

SC 22/WG 3 Business Plan/Convener's Report =

DATE ASSIGNED:

2005-08-22

SOURCE:

SC 22/WG 4 Convenor (L. = Dickey)

BACKWARD = POINTER:

DOCUMENT TYPE:

Other document = (Open)

PROJECT NUMBER:

STATUS:

This document is circulated for information = and review. It will be discussed at the 29 September-2 October 2005 = SC 22 Plenary Meeting under agenda item 8.1. This document is located at:

ACTION = IDENTIFIER:

FYI

DUE DATE:

N/A

DISTRIBUTION:

text

CROSS = REFERENCE:

DISTRIBUTION = FORM:

Open

Sally = Seitz

ANSI

25 West 43rd = Street

New = York, NY 10036

Telephone: (212) = 642-4918

Fax: &n= bsp; (212) 840-2298

Email: sseitz@ansi.org

______________end of cover page, beginning = of document_________

WG3 Business Plan = and Convener's Report to the ISO/IEC JTC1/SC22 2003 = Plenary

Period covered by = this report: August 2004 to August 2005.

Date of = preparation: August, 2005

Submitted = by:

Prof. Leroy J Dickey

Convener, ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 22/WG 3

Faculty of Mathematics

University of Waterloo

Waterloo, = Ontario

Canada N2L 3G1

E-mail: ljdickey@uwaterloo.ca

0. = Outline

1. Summary

2. Period Review

3. Focus for the next work period

4. Other Items

5. Successes

------------------------- -------------------------

1. SUMMARY

1.1 JTC1/SC22/WG-3 Statement of Scope

Development and maintenance of ISO/IEC Standards =

related to programming language APL

1.2 Project Report

1.2.1 = Completed Projects

JTC 1.22.09.01 Programming Language APL, ISO/IEC 8485:1989 =

JTC 1.22.24.01 Programming Language Extended APL, IS = 13751

1.2.2 = Projects Underway

None

1.2.3 = Canceled Projects

JTC 1.22.09.02 Character Repertoire for = APL

JTC 1.22.24.02 Character Repertoire for Extended APL =

Final copy was delivered in PDF format.

Work was suspended when contact with the

Editorial office was lost.

1.3 Cooperation and Competition

There are no competing standards for APL. The =

international standards 8485 and 13751 stand = out

as the primary references for APL = implementers.

The Unicode Consortium kindly granted use of = graphic

images which we have included with the APL = Character

Repertoire.

2. PERIOD REVIEW

2.1 Market Requirements

APL is a general purpose computing language that continues = to

excel at applications that benefit by the organization of = data

in large arrays and has found users in a wide range = of

applications involving financial, actuarial, manufacturing, = and

management. The growth area is coming from areas that demand =

higher performance and these needs are being met, largely = by

faster hardware, but also by leaner = implementations.

Outside the insurance industry, one of the major groups = of

users is in the management and use of large financial = data

sets. Stock trading history is a good example. Both APL = and

some of its derivatives are highly successful in this = area.

More on this in the Recent Successes section.

APL is still in use by one of the worlds largest = airlines.

The main use is to optimize its schedules. The continued =

success in this area shows how well the language scales =

up to the problems it is used to solve.

In previous years we have reported the success of = APL

in a major trading house. The big news his = year

is with another house doing arbitrage with currency = futures.

It is well documented that when a price moves = outse

K and Kdb are still smashing successes with users = of

the largest data sets. These highly

specialized tools are little known, outside = their

sphere of application, but because of their focus, = are

miles ahead of the competition.

The most amazing industry practice known to me is = the

APL user whose client requires that their software = be

delivered in

the programming language Ada. Because of the advantages

of offered by modeling in APL, development is done = in

the higher level language and translated to Ada = for

before delivery.

2.2 Achievements

The APL Working Group is proud to report that = the

projects

JTC 1.22.09.01 Programming Language = APL

JTC 1.22.24.01 Programming Language Extended = APL

have resulted in high quality works that stand out = as

the primary authority for APL implementors = and

programmers. Likewise, the suspended = project(s)

JTC 1.22.09.02 Character Repertoire for = APL

JTC 1.22.24.02 Character Repertoire for Extended = APL

made a positive impact on the APL community, and = have

been adopted by IBM and other vendors, even = though

the Geneva office was unable to work with the PDF

= documents.

2.3 Resources

Since Berlin 2000, the APL working group has not = met

face to face. For most APL experts, the exciting = part

of the standards work is over because the = interesting

technical decisions have been made. Examples of = these

are the brilliant specialized functions such as = "fuzzy

floor", and ever useful "domino" functions = for

instance, which played a major role in ISO 8485 and = the

more recently introduced items in IS 13751, such as = (i)

the rank operator for arrays, (ii) the box and = enclose

functions and (iii) the representation of complex

numbers and the all important value of (-1) raised = to

the power (n/k), where n and k are positive = integers.

As a consequence we have experienced a decline = in

interest and participation. Candidates for = project

editors are scarce.

3. FOCUS for the NEXT WORK PERIOD

3.1 Deliverables

The final text of the APL Character Repertoire in = HTML

and PDF format is still available.

3.2 Strategies

3.2.1 = Risks

In adition to the phenomenon mentioned above in = the

second paragraph of section "2.3 Resources", a point = of

contention is that some of the world's leading APL

experts, in some instances previously members of = WG3,

have suffered from barriers to official = participation

by their respective national bodies. It is my = view

that qualified experts who volunteer their time = should

be encouraged rather than turned away for = pecuniary

= reasons.

3.2.2 Opportunities

3.3 Work Program Priorities

3.3.1 = First priority:

The editor for the APL Character Repertoire, is prepared

to deliver again, if requested.

3.3.2 = Second priority:

No other projects are in view.

3.3.3

WG3, the APL Working Group, will continue into = a

maintenance mode for the two standards APL (8485) = and

APL Extended (13751) and will stand prepared to =

provide interpretation and prepare corrigenda, = as

= needed.

4. Other Items

4.1 Action Requests for WG3

4.1.1

Renew ISO/IEC 8485, when it is time to do = so.

4.1.2 =

Renew IS 13751, when it is time to do so.

4.1.3

New Project: Self Contained Array = Specification

4.2 WG3 Meetings

Currently by electronic mail

4.3 Most Recent face-to-face Meeting

Berlin, 2000-07-23.

4.4 Future Meetings

Future meetings will continue by electronic mail, at = the

least. No face-to-face meetings are scheduled at = this

&= nbsp; time.

5. = Successes

We take the view that our successes are those of = the

businesses that use our software. The striking = example

referred to above is given here.

In previous years we have reported the success of = APL

in a major trading house. The big news his year = is

with another house doing currency arbitrage. It = is

well understood that when a commodity price moves = more

than one standard deviation away from its = moving

average, it will quickly revert to the mean.

It has been reported in "Vector", a poblication of = the

British Computer Society, that at Deutcshe Bank,

London, one = area they experience a turn-around in 600

to 1000 milliseconds, and that 200 miliseconds of = that

time is needed just to receive the information on = the

latest transaction. This places great demands on = the

system, to calculate the moving average and = standard

deviation, and then, after a decision, to prepare the

orders and ship them out. It seems that now, = the

language to beat is Kdb, a lean and mean dialect of

APL. Users are are now looking at the second = order

effects caused by other slower traders, as the = price

overshoots in the opposite direction, as a place they

can pick up another nibble.

----- end of convenor's report and business plan = -----

Sally = Seitz

Program = Manager

ANSI

25 = West 43rd Street

New = York, NY 10036<= /p>

Phone: (212) 642-4918

Fax: (212) 840-2298

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