Subject: SC22 N2482 - WG13 Business Plan and Convener's Report 1997

From: "william c. rinehuls" <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 30 May 1997 16:35:25 -0400 (EDT)

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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
N2482

June 1997

TITLE:
WG13 Business Plan and WG13 Convener's Report for the August 1997 JTC
1/SC22 Plenary

SOURCE:
Secretariat, ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC22

WORK ITEM:
N/A

STATUS:
Please note that consideration of this Report and Business Plan will be an
agenda item for the August 1997 SC22 Plenary.

CROSS REFERENCE:
N/A

DOCUMENT TYPE:
Convener's Report

ACTION
To SC22 Member Bodies for review.

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]

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      Business Plan and Convener's Report
      ISO/IEC JTC1/SC22/WG13 (Modula-2)

      Document ISO/IEC JTC1/SC22/WG13 D253

PERIOD COVERED: 
June 1996 - May 1997

SUBMITTED BY: 
Convener of ISO/IEC JTC1/SC22/WG13
Dr. Martin Schoenhacker
Vienna University of Technology
Institute of Computer Graphics
Karlsplatz 13/186-1
A-1040 Vienna, Austria
Phone: +43 1 58801 4079
Fax:   +43 1 5042583
EMail: [email-masked]

1. MANAGEMENT SUMMARY

1.1 JTC1/SC22/WG13 STATEMENT OF SCOPE 

Development of ISO/IEC Standards related to the programming language
Modula-2.

1.2 PROJECT REPORT 

1.2.1 COMPLETED PROJECTS 

JTC1.22.18.01 -- IS 10514-1 Modula-2, Base Language

  IS 10514-1 was published in June 1996.  So far, no serious
  problems have been reported.

1.2.2 PROJECTS UNDERWAY 

JTC1.22.18.02 -- DIS 10514-3 Objected Oriented Modula-2

  DIS 10514-3 was submitted to ITTF for DIS ballot in May 1997.
  It is hoped that the ballot results will be available before the
  end of 1997, and a meeting will be scheduled early next year to
  handle the Disposition of Comments and hopefully prepare the
  publication of the final text.

JTC1.22.18.04 -- DIS 10514-2 Generics in Modula-2

  DIS 10514-2 was submitted to ITTF for DIS ballot in May 1997.
  It is hoped that the ballot results will be available before the
  end of 1997, and a meeting will be scheduled early next year to
  handle the Disposition of Comments and hopefully prepare the
  publication of the final text.

JTC1.22.15436 -- Interfacing Modula-2 to C

  This project to produce a Type 3 Technical Report has been
  assigned to WG13 following a letter ballot in January 1997.
  It is currently in Working Draft stage, but is expected to have
  moved to PDTR submission stage by the time of the 1997 SC22
  Plenary. Depending on the maturity of the draft, WG13 may ask for
  SC22's permission to conduct parallel letter ballots for PDTR
  registration and voting on the document.  This internal decision
  is scheduled for July 1997.

1.2.3 CANCELLED PROJECTS

As requested by WG13 at the 1996 SC22 Plenary, the following
projects formerly assigned to WG13 have been terminated:

JTC1.22.03 -- Modula-2 to Posix Binding

  The person originally holding the main responsibility for this
  project was unable to devote further work to this item.  Also, it
  was felt that a more general solution would be more feasible.
  Therefore, this project was withdrawn in favor of JTC1.22.15436
  (Interfacing Modula-2 to C) which takes a more general view.

JTC1.22.05 -- Support for Commercial Programming in Modula-2

  There was little support for this project, and WG13 decided its
  efforts would be better spent on the other projects mentioned in
  1.2.2.

JTC1.22.06 -- Further support for Concurrent Programming in Modula-2

  There was little support for this project, and WG13 decided its
  efforts would be better spent on the other projects mentioned in
  1.2.2.

1.2.4 COOPERATION AND COMPETITION 

WG13 has always tried to cooperate with as many compiler writers as
possible, and contacts to industry still work quite well.  Although
the general public is unfortunately not well aware of Modula-2,
there are various important applications.  In particular, the
language is being used in the implementation of safety-critical
and/or embedded systems, e.g. in car electronics and automated train
control.  Also, it is being used as the implementation language for
a word processing package with an installed base of more than 20.000
copies, as well as for teaching purposes at various universities.

Where appropriate, WG13 has established contact with other SC22
working groups.  There is no apparent direct competition with any
other efforts.

2.0 PERIOD REVIEW 

2.1 MARKET REQUIREMENTS 

WG13 reacted to strong demands by the Modula-2 user community in
preparing extensions to IS 10514-1.  In particular, there was
popular demand for Object Oriented Extensions, and it is hoped that
the current effort in project JTC1.22.18.02 will lead to a uniform
way of handling these extensions in the available compilers.  With
regard to Generics, there was popular demand mainly from academia
which has also been met in project JTC1.22.18.04.  Finally, the
requirement for interfacing to libraries defined in the C language
is being handled by project JTC1.22.15436.  WG13 is currently not
aware of any other demands or concerns regarding Modula-2.

2.2 ACHIEVEMENTS 

IS 10514-1 (Modula-2, Base Language) was published in June 1996.

DIS 10514-2 (Generics in Modula-2) and
DIS 10514-3 (Object Oriented Extensions)
have been submitted to ITTF for DIS ballot in May 1997.

The WG13 Web site at http://sc22wg13.twi.tudelft.nl/ was further
expanded and now also hosts the Modula-2 FAQ, a problem report
section, and references to related publications.

2.3 RESOURCES 

Although resources in general are declining, the future of the
current WG13 projects seems to be secured.  There are project
editors and backup project editors for all the active projects, as
well as for the completed Base Language Standard.

3.0 FOCUS NEXT WORK PERIOD 

For the upcoming work period, WG13's main task will be the
resolution of DIS comments and hopefully the publication of the
final text of 10514-2 and 10514-3.  Also, work on the Technical
Report on Interfacing Modula-2 to C will have to be progressed as
quickly as possible.

3.1 DELIVERABLES 

It is anticipated that DIS 10514-2 and DIS 10514-3 will be approved
by the end of 1997 and can then be published in early 1998.  Project
JTC1.22.15436 is expected to produce a next working draft by July
1997, which will then be submitted to SC22 as a Type 3 PDTR, given
that WG13 agrees on the maturity of the document.

3.2 STRATEGIES 

It is expected that routine handling will suffice to complete the
progress of documents 10514-2 and 10514-3 to IS status.  With regard
to project JTC1.22.15436, WG13 may decide to ask the SC22 Plenary
for permission to submit the next working draft for concurrent PDTR
registration and ballot.  This will be decided upon internally in
July 1997.

3.2.1 RISKS 

Unexpectedly heavy technical comment could delay any of the
strategies described above.  However, no problems are anticipated.

3.2.2 OPPORTUNITIES 

To speed up the process, WG13 is considering concurrent PDTR
registration and balloting as stated above.

3.3 WORK PROGRAM PRIORITIES 

The publication of 10514-2 and 10514-3 will certainly have topmost
priority over the following year.  In addition, WG13 will aim at
progressing project JTC1.22.15436 as quickly as possible, as there
appears to be significant popular demand for such a Technical
Report.  Although the working group has shrunk significantly since
its early days, the remaining people are all very committed and will
be able to handle these tasks in a professional and timely fashion.

4. OTHER ITEMS 

This section lists other items that are not part of the "Business
Plan" but are appropriate for Convener's Report.

4.1 POSSIBLE ACTION REQUEST AT FORTHCOMING PLENARY 

WG13 may request concurrent PDTR registration and ballot for the
document produced by project JTC1.22.15436.  However, this will have
to be decided by WG13 in July 1997, and the request will be made by
the WG13 representative at the SC22 Plenary if appropriate.

4.2 APPOINTMENT OF NEW CONVENER 

At the last SC22 Plenary in London, September 1996, Martin
Schoenhacker (Austria) was appointed the new convener of WG13.  He
follows Cornelis Pronk (Netherlands) who had served as an interim
convener since the 1995 SC22 Plenary.

4.3 PROJECT EDITORS

The following individuals have been appointed project editors and
backup project editors, respectively:

JTC1.22.18.01 -- Modula-2, Base Language
    Cornelis Pronk (main), Martin Schoenhacker (backup)

JTC1.22.18.02 -- Object Oriented Modula-2
    Albert Wiedemann (main), John Lancaster (backup

JTC1.22.18.04 -- Generics in Modula-2
    Richard J. Sutcliffe (main), Cornelis Pronk (backup)

JTC1.22.15436 -- Interfacing Modula-2 to C
    Eberhard Enger (main), Martin Schleusser (backup)

4.4 ELECTRONIC DOCUMENT DISTRIBUTION

WG13 has been working over e-mail for a considerable time now, and
recent decisions within the working group have mostly been taken
using e-mail.  This seems the only practical way for the future, in
particular as travel budget appear to be shrinking everywhere.

In addition to the e-mail reflector, WG13 has its own ftp and Web
sites which have recently been expanded to offer more services (e.g. 
FAQ and Publications) to the Modula-2 community.

4.5 RECENT MEETING

The 11th meeting of WG13 took place at Oxford Brookes University,
Oxford, United Kingdom, June 3rd-6th, 1996.

The 12th meeting of WG13 took place at the University of Linz,
Linz, Austria, March 17th-18th, 1997.

4.6 FUTURE MEETINGS

As soon as the end date of the DIS ballots for documents 10514-2 and
10514-3 is known, a meeting will be scheduled to handle the
Disposition of Comments and the preparation of the final text for
both items.  There are standing offers to host the meeting from
Langley (B.C., Canada), Munich (Germany) and Vienna (Austria).  The
date will likely be January or February 1998.

Work on project JTC1.22.15436 will be progressed using e-mail.  WG13
feels no need to schedule a meeting for this purpose alone.

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