Subject: SC22 N2494 - LETTER BALLOT on Ada (WG9) NWI

From: "william c. rinehuls" <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 18 Jun 1997 16:45:29 -0400 (EDT)

___________________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
N2494

July 1997

TITLE:
Proposal for a NWI for SC22 on:  "Guidance for the use of Ada in High
Integrity Systems" (Type 3 Technical Report) AND LETTER BALLOT

SOURCE:
Secretariat, ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC22

WORK ITEM:
N/A

STATUS:
N/A

CROSS REFERENCE:
SC22 N2479, N2493

DOCUMENT TYPE:
Proposal for a NWI

ACTION:
To SC22 Member Bodies for action.

The attached letter ballot should be returned to the SC22 Secretariat at
the address below NOT LATER THAN OCTOBER 28, 1997.

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 letter ballot _______

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

                    VOTE ON PROPOSED NEW WORK ITEM

Please return all votes and comments in electronic form directly to the
JTC 1/SC22 Secretariat at the address below NOT LATER THAN OCTOBER 28,
1997

                  Proposal for a new work item on
Guidance for the use of Ada in High Integrity Systems (Type 3 Technical
                             Report)

A. Vote

Q1
Do you accept the proposal in document JTC 1/SC22 N2494 as a sufficient
definition of the new work item?  (If you have NO to the above question,
you are required to comment.)

     YES _____          NO _____          COMMENTS __________

Q2
Do you support the addition of the new work item to the programme of work
of the joint technical committee?

     YES _____          NO _____          COMMENTS __________

B. Participation

Q3
Do you commit yourself to participate in the development of this new work
item?

     YES _____          NO _____          COMMENTS __________

Q4
Are you able to offer a project editor who will dedicate efforts to the
advancement and maintenance of this project?  (If YES, please identify)

     YES _____          NO ______         COMMENTS ___________

C. Documentation

Q5
Do you have a major contribution or a reference document ready for
submittal?

     YES _____          NO ______         COMMENTS ___________

Q6
Will you have such a contribution in ninety days?

     YES _____          NO ______         COMMENTS ___________

P-Member Voting            Date             Submitted by

______________            ____________      ____________________

Secretariat, ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC22:  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 letter ballot; beginning of NWI ________________

Proposal for a New Work Item: 
Guidance for the use of Ada in High Integrity Systems

This New Work Item has been prepared with support of WG9. 

            Date of presentation of proposal:       TBD
            Proposer:                               WG9
            Secretariat:                            SC22 
            ISO/IEC      JTC:                       1

A proposal for a new work item shall be submitted to the secretariat of the 
ISO/IEC joint technical committee concerned, with a copy to the ISO Central 
Secretariat.

Presentation of the proposal  -  to be completed by the proposer

Guidelines for proposing and justifying a new work item are given in ISO Guide 
26.  For ease of reference an extract is given overleaf.
________________________________________________________________________________

Title (subject to be covered and type of standard, e.g. terminology, method of 
test, performance requirements, etc.)

 Guidance for the use of Ada in High Integrity Systems 

Scope (and field of application)

 Guidance on the use of the Ada programming language ISO/IEC 8652
         (the Ada95 Reference Manual) within systems which require high
         integrity in the software.

Purpose and justification - attach a separate page as annex, if necessary

 To ensure those producing high integrity applications
         can do so with confidence by following internationally
         agreed guidelines.  

Programme of work

If the proposed new work item is approved, which of the following document(s)  
is (are) expected to be developed?

     _ _     a single International Standard

     _ _     more than one International Standard (expected number: ____)
     _ _     a multi-part international Standard consisting of ____ parts
     _ _     an addendum or addenda to the following International Standard(s)  
                          ................................................
     _X_     a technical report, type  3 ...........................

Relevant documents to be considered

      None, but New Project Acceptance Criteria included below.

Cooperation and liaison

 Informal liason has been established with a number of international
         and national groups in the area of high integrity systems. It is not
         thought that formal liason is needed with any specific ISO group
         (other than SC22/WG9, of course).

Preparatory work offered with target date(s)

 First working draft in November 1997. First CD ballot by July 1998.
Final CD ballot November 1998.

Signature

     _________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________

Will the services of a maintenance agency or registration authority be required?

                        yes ____        no __X__

        If yes, have you identified a potential candidate:      N/A

        If yes, indicate name:  ........................................... 

   Are there any known requirements for coding?

                        yes ____        no __x__

      If yes, please specify on a separate page:

   Does the proposed standard concern known patented items?

                        yes ____        no __x__

      If yes, please provide full information at annex:         N/A

________________________________________________________________________________
Comments and recommendations of the JTC secretariat - attach a separate page as 
annex, if necessary

   Comments with respect to the proposal in general, and recommendations thereon
   It is proposed to assign this new item to SC22

________________________________________________________________________________

Voting on the proposal

Each P-member of the ISO/IEC joint technical committee has an obligation to vote
within the time limits laid down (normally three months after the date of 
circulation)

        Date of circulation  _______________

        Closing date for voting _______________

        Signature of the JTC secretary _______________

FORM 3 (ISO/IEC) See overleaf

[note => overleaf defines contents of fill-in-the-blanks above.]

           NP Acceptance Criteria: Proposed Guidelines

Introduction

This document is a copy of ISO/IEC JTC1 N4477, to which has been added, in italics, the relevant information on the
proposed Guidelines. 

Principle for NP Acceptance

The existing JTC 1 Directives (cl 6.2.1.3) require the commitment of five National bodies; in addition the criteria (proforma)
defined in this paper shall also be satisfied. 

WG9 has active support from members from the following countries: Canada, France, Japan, Netherlands, UK, and USA.
We are hoping for activity participation from Germany. 

Assumptions

     That the proposed NP acceptance criteria be applied at the initialization and the approval stages. 
     That in accordance with existing procedures NP's may be initiated by SC's and or NB's. 

     The working assumption was that the NP would be initiated by SC22, with support from UK, Canada and WG9. 
     That SC's shall have a business plan which defines and justifies their work plan. 

     Ada 95 is specifically designed to handle high integrity applications. Large high integrity applications almost always
     involve more than one country, and therefore international guidance is required which system certifiers can use. The
     system certifiers are often not Ada experts and therefore need guidance in which they can have confidence. 

     Ada 95 is not currently being used for high integrity application, but this will change shortly. Hence it is important
     that the Guidelines are produced with a short period to satisfy the future requirement. 
     That NP's shall fall within the scope of the JTC1 Business Plan and where applicable the SC Business Plan. 
     That when a NP is initiated the proposer shall, in addition to existing requirements, complete the new proforma and submit it
     along with the NP. This proforma shall be circulated with the NP ballot. 

     Existing proforma is at the front of this document. 

That NB's during the balloting stage understand that in case of serious doubt, giving a form negative vote would be helpful to ensure
relevance and utilization of critical resources with JCT1. 

The HRG, a group working under WG9, has the resources to undertake this work. 

     The JCT1 provide input and direction to emphasize these criteria as a new approach for NPl planning and NB balloting. 
     That the JTC1 secretariat engage in modification to the JCT1 procedures related to NP's and their balloting. 

NB Procedure for NP Ballot

The following proforma is proposed for providing evaluation criteria for NP acceptance. 

The procedure for NB determination of a NP ballot as in the existing procedure at the NB level. There is now with this proposal
proforma additional information to aid NB's in their determination. The NB's when responding to the NP shall, where possible,
relate any comments to the criteria assessments made by the proposer on the Proforma. 

Notes to Proforma

Business Relevance. 
     That which identifies market place relevance in terms of what problem is being solved and or need being addressed. 

     There is an international market in high integrity software within aircraft, defence and railways systems (for
     instance). Many of these systems are being written in Ada. International Guidelines will directly support this market.

A1. Market Requirement. 
     When submitting a NP, the proposer shall identify the nature of the Market Requirement, assessing the extent to which it is
     essential, desirable or merely supportive of some other project. 

     It is frequently the case that the prime contractor for a system subcontracts the high integrity software to another
     company, even in another country. If safety is involved, such as with aircraft, there will be a certification process
     involving a regulatory. Hence three parties are involved here, but with large projects many more parties need to
     work together in a framework which will produce a satisfactory product. For using Ada 95, it is thought that
     Guidelines are virtually essential. 

A.2 Technical Regulation. 
     If a Regulatory requirement is deemed to exist - e.g. for an area of public concern, e.g. Information Security, Data
     protection, potentially leading to regulatory/public interest action based on the use of this voluntary international standard -
     the proposer shall identify this here. 

     Almost all high integrity software is covered by some regulation. However, the actual regulations vary with the
     application domain (safety, security, etc) and industrial sector (defence, civil avionics, railways, etc). The proposed
     Guidelines are being designed to support all these regulations. 

B Related Work. 
     Aspects of the relationship of this NP to other areas of standardization work shall be identified in this section. 

     The Guidelines are totally dependent upon the Ada standard, ISO 8652. 

B.1 Competition/Maintenance. 
     If this NP is concerned with completing or maintaining existing standards, those concerned shall be identified here. 

     Sector-specific standards to be considered are such as: 
          DO-178B (Civil avionics) 
          CENELEC Draft prEN 50128 (European Railway signaling) 
          IEC 880 (Nuclear) 
          Interim DEFSTAN 00-55 (UK Defence) 
          ITSEC (European Union IT Security) 
          IEC 1508 (Generic Draft standard, part 3 is concerned with software) 

     Informal contact has been established with most of the groups responsible for these standards. 

B.2 External commitment. 
     Groups, bodies, or fora external to JTC1 to which a commitment has been made by JTC for cooperation and or
     collaboration on this NP shall be identified here. 

     No formal commitments exist, but as noted above, informal contacts have already been made. 

B.3 External Std/Specification. 
     If other activities creating standards or specifications in this topic area are known to exist or be planned, and which might be
     available to JTC1 as PAS, they shall be identified here. 

     The only standard not part of the ISO/IEC/European Union standardization process is the Civil Avionics standard
     DO-178B, but no plan is known for this to be submitted to JTC1 as PAS. 

Technical Status. 
     The proposer shall indicate here an assessment of the extent to which the proposed standard is supported by current
     technology. 

C.1 Mature Technology. 
     Indicate here the extent to which the technology is reasonably stable and ripe for standardization. 

     High integrity applications have been developed successfully in Ada 83, the previous Ada standard. This proposal
     will exploit the specific additions in the current Ada standard. 

C.2 Prospective Technology. 
     If the NP is anticipatory in nature on expected or forecasted need, this shall be indicated here. 

     The only anticipation is that of high integrity applications moving from Ada 83 to the current Ada standard. 

C.3 Models/Tools. 
     If the NP relates to the creation of supportive reference models or tools, this shall be indicated here. 

     It is expected that software suppliers will provides tools to assist in the application of the proposed Guidelines. 

D Any other aspects 
     of background information justifying this NP shall be indicated here. 

     None. 

_____________________end of document SC22 N2494 ___________________