Subject: Revised SC22 N2492 - WG20 Business Plan and Convener's Report

From: "william c. rinehuls" <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 20 Jun 1997 11:32:02 -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
N2492

June 1997

TITLE:
WG20 Business Plan and WG20 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 this Report contains a number of action items for SC22
approval at the August 1997 SC22 Plenary.

CROSS REFERENCE:
N/A

DOCUMENT TYPE:
Convener's Report

ACTION:
To SC22 Member Bodies for review and action.

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 __________________

Business plan and convenor's report:
ISO/IEC JTC1 SC22/WG20 - INTERNATIONALIZATION

PERIOD COVERED:
July 1996 - June 1997

SUBMITTED BY:
Convenor WG20
Arnold F. Winkler
Unisys B254
2476 Swedesford Road
Paoli, PA  19301
Tel: 610-993-7305
Fax: 610-695-5473
E-mail: [email-masked]

1.	MANAGEMENT SUMMARY

1.1	SCOPE
Identification of elements relevant to the work of SC22 that may be
affected by differences in language, culture, customs and habits; and
for these elements, develop standards that enable applications to be
portable across differing cultural practices; and develop a Technical
Report that describes a framework for nations to provide those elements

1.2	PROJECTS UNDERWAY

Project number
Description
Editors

22.13
Second edition of TR 10176: "Guidelines for the preparation of
programming language standards"
Akio Kido and Makoto Noda

22.30.01 (completed)
TR 11017: "Framework for internationalization"
T.K. Sato

22.30.02.01 (umbrella project - no standard associated)
Functionality of the internationalization of applications
Keld Simonsen

22.30.02.02
ISO/IEC 14651: International string ordering
Alain LaBonte

22.30.02.03
ISO/IEC 14652: Specification of Cultural Conventions
Keld Simonsen

22.15435
ISO/IEC 15435: Internationalization API
Keld Simonsen

For details see later discussion of projects in section 4.

2.0	PERIOD REVIEW

2.1	MARKET REQUIREMENTS

WG20 believes that through the proliferation of PCs and the world wide
web, internationalization has become a very important factor in the
creation of programs and thus programming languages.  

2.2	ACHIEVEMENTS

During last year WG20, especially the editor T.K. Sato, completed the
work on TR 11017 - Framework for internationalization.  The TR is now
with ITTF for publication.
The international string ordering standard (IS 14651) has now CD status
and we will submit the updated document for final CD ballot in October.

2.3	RESOURCES

The working group has met 12 times since the first meeting in 1991. 
Participants come from Canada, Denmark, Egypt, England, Ireland, Israel,
France, Japan, and the United States.

WG20 has established a good working relationship with CEN TC304 working
groups for sorting and cultural conventions, we even met for a common
session in autumn of 1996.

The biggest issue in SC22/WG20 - as in most other standards developing
organizations - is that many companies can not afford to make enough
resources available for speedy development of standards.  For many
participants in our meetings, the meeting time is the only time they can
spend on the projects. Additionally, travel budgets are tight, thus
restricting the participation even further.

WWW HOME PAGE FOR SC22/WG20

SC22/WG20 opened it's WWW home page.
The home page address is   http://www.dkuug.dk/JTC1/SC22/WG20/
The home page includes:
	Introduction and explanation of SC22/WG20 activities
	Important documents about it's activities
	Working drafts of standards from SC22/WG20
	Summary of the key SC22/WG20 documents and standards
Keld Simonsen maintains the home page.

2.3.1	Meetings of SC22/WG20

1	November 1991	Sunnyvale	USA
2	April 1992  	Paris 	France
3	October 1992	Quebec	Canada
4	April 1993  	Copenhagen	Denmark
5	October 1993	Tokyo 	Japan
6	April 1994  	Oxford	United Kingdom
7	October 1994	Cupertino	USA
8	May 1995    	Paris 	France
9	September 1995	Copenhagen	Denmark
10	April 1996  	Kyoto  	Japan
11	September 1996	Vienna	Austria
12	May 1997    	Quebec	Canada
13	November 1997	Cairo 	Egypt
14	May 1998    	Dublin	Ireland
15	Fall 1998   	Israel	USA and UK as alternatives

2.3.2	Liaisons from WG20

Liaison from WG20	Organization	Subject
T.K. Sato   	SC2/WG2     	Character Sets
Keld Simonsen	SC22/WG15   	POSIX
Miles Ellis 	SC22/WG5    	FORTRAN
Keld Simonsen	SC22/WG14   	C
Keld Simonsen	SC22/WG21   	C++
Gary Miller 	X/Open      	I18n
Alain LaBonte	GUIDE/SHARE-Europe	I18n
Keld Simonsen	CEN TC 304  	I18n, character set technology
Alain LaBonte	SC18/WG9    	User System Interface
Alain LaBonte	SC18        	C/G Model
Keld Simonsen	TC37/SC2/WG3	Alphabetic ordering

2.3.3	Liaisons to WG20

Liaison to WG20	Organization	Subject
T.K. Sato   	SC2/WG2     	Character Sets
Keld Simonsen	SC22/WG15   	POSIX
Ann Wallace 	SC22/WG4    	COBOL
Miles Ellis 	SC22/WG5    	FORTRAN
Jim Melton  	SC21/WG3    	SQL
Keld Simonsen	SC22/WG14   	C
Keld Simonsen	SC22/WG21   	C++
Gary Miller  	X/Open      	I18n
Alain LaBonte	GUIDE/SHARE-Europe	I18n
Torvadur Kari Olafsson	CEN TC 304	I18n, character set technology
Keld Simonsen	SC22/WG22   	PCTE

3.0	FOCUS OF NEXT WORK PERIOD

Provide disposition of ballot comments and TR text for JTC1.22.13 (TR
10176)
Bring project JTC1.22.30.02 (IS 14651) to FCD and DIS ballot 
Bring project JTC1.22.30.03 (IS 14652) to CD ballot
Bring project JTC1.22.15435 (IS 15435) to CD registration

3.1 	DELIVERABLES

WG20 makes all efforts to complete project JTC1.22.13, revision of
guidelines for the preparation of programming language standards, with
the disposition of the DTR ballot comments and the final TR text later
this year.

We concentrate our efforts to get IS 14651, the sorting standard, to FCD
and to DIS ballot. 

3.2	STRATEGIES

WG20 needs to find a native English speaker to edit TR 10176 for proper
English.  None of the participants in WG20 has English as the mother
tongue. 

WG20 needs to progress project JTC1.22.30.03 (cultural conventions
specification) to CD stage for reference in the sorting standard.  

3.2.1	RISKS

Technical objections in late state of projects may delay them.  

3.2.2	OPPORTUNITIES

We expect that the increased use of electronic distribution and the web
will speed up our internal approval process.  We also hope that the
participation from Ireland and England will result in help for the
editorial review of TR 10176.

3.3	WORK PROGRAM PRIORITIES

Complete TR 10176
Registration and CD ballot for IS 14652
FCD and DIS ballot for IS 14541.

4	STATUS OF ACTIVE PROJECTS

4.1	TR 11017: Framework for internationalization

Framework for internationalization
JTC1 22.30.01
A type 3 Technical Report
T. K. Sato
The TR 11017 is being published in English and French language.  The
project is completed, the TR is being published by ITTF.

4.2	Second edition of TR 10176	

Guidelines for the preparation of programming languages standards
JTC1 22.13
An amendment to a type 3 Technical Report
A. Kido and M. Noda
Document SC22 N4579 (WG20 N477) has been sent for DTR ballot to JTC1. 
Ballot closed June 17, 1997.

4.3	International string ordering  (future ISO/IEC 14651)

International string ordering
JTC1 22.30.02.02
International Standard ISO/IEC 14651
Alain LaBonte
Document SC22 N2364 (WG20 N471) has been sent for CD ballot to JTC1. 
The ballot results in SC22 N2466 were discussed in the WG20 meeting in
Quebec, the editor is preparing the disposition of comments and the new
version of the standard will be sent to SC22 for FCD ballot in October
1997.

4.4	Cultural convention specification standard  (future ISO/IEC 14652)

Cultural convention specification standard
JTC1.22.30.02.03
International Standard ISO/IEC 14652
Keld Simonsen
A document is being prepared for registration and CD ballot.  It will be
sent to SC22 for distribution end of June 1997

4.5	Internationalization API standard  (future ISO/IEC 15435)

Internationalization API standard
C1 22.15435
International Standard ISO/IEC 15435
Keld Simonsen
A document is being prepared for CD registration ballot

5	CANDIDATE PROJECTS

5.1	Functionality of Internationalization

Functionality of the internationalization of applications
JTC1 22.30.02.01
A number of standards, see subproject descriptions below
Keld Simonsen
This is an umbrella project 

This project is the umbrella project for the development of specific
standards for functionality of the internationalization of applications,
such that users can specify their cultural requirements, and obtain
consistent behavior across system platforms and applications.  Work is
being done on the following projects:
- 	International string ordering (IS 14651)
- 	Cultural convention specification standard (IS 14652)

6	REQUESTS TO THE SC22 PLENARY

6.1	Title of IS 14651

WG20 requests that SC22 approve to change the title of JTC1.22.30.02.02
- IS 14651 - to "International string ordering and comparison - Method
for comparing character strings and description of the common template
tailorable ordering".  (The current title is:  ISO/IEC 14651 -
International String Ordering - Method for comparing character strings
and description of a default tailorable ordering)

6.2	Project editor for project JTC1.22.15435 - I18N APIs

WG20 asks SC22 to appoint Keld Simonsen as project editor for
JTC1.22.15435 - I18N APIs.

6.3	Concurrent CD registration and ballot for JTC1.22.15435 - I18N APIs

WG20 requests SC22 to permit concurrent CD registration and CD ballot
for the project JTC1.22.15435 - I18N API standard.

___________________end of document SC22 N2492 ______________________