Subject: SC22 N2533 - WG5 Business Plan and Conveners Report for August Plenary

From: "william c. rinehuls" <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 28 Jul 1997 17:54:22 -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
N2533

August 1997

TITLE:
WG5 Business Plan and WG5 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.  The Report will be considered
under Agenda Item 8.3.

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 report _________

                     WG5 Business Plan and Convener's Report
                                       to
                         ISO/IEC JTC1/SC22 1997 Plenary

PERIOD COVERED BY THIS REPORT:   August 1996 - July 1997

SUBMITTED BY: Convener of ISO/IEC JTC1/SC22/WG5
              (Dr. Miles Ellis, Director:  Educational Technology Resources
Centre,
              University of Oxford, 37 Wellington Square, Oxford  OX1 2JF,
              England.  Phone: +44 1865 270528, Fax: +44 1865 270527,
              Email: [email-masked])

1     MANAGEMENT SUMMARY

1.1     JTC1/SC22/WG5 Statement of Scope

The development and maintenance of ISO/IEC Fortran programming language
standards.

1.2     Project Report

Additional information concerning WG5's current projects is annexed as WG5
N1286.

1.2.1     Completed Projects

22.02.01.01   Programming Language Fortran - Part 1: Base Language
     The DIS ballot for this Standard ended in February 1997.  There were
several minor comments accompanying YES votes, and a NO vote from France
on the grounds that the French title (created by ITTF) was incorrect.
This issue has been resolved and the final text was submitted to ITTF for
publication in June
1997.

1.2.2     Projects Underway

22.02.01.02   Type 2 TR on Floating Point Exception Handling in Fortran
     The concurrent Registration and PDTR Approval ballots for this project
ended in March 1997.  Despite the unanimous approval an error was
subsequently discovered which slightly delayed subsequent progress.  The
draft DTR was submitted to SC22 for its DTR ballot in July 1997.

22.02.01.03   Type 2 TR on Interoperability between Fortran and C
     This has proved more complex than anticipated.  However a draft PDTR was
submitted for concurrent Registration and Approval ballots in April 1997;  the
ballots will end on September 11, 1997.

22.02.01.04   Type 2 TR on Enhanced Data Type Facilities in Fortran
     The concurrent Registration and PDTR Approval ballots for this project
ended in March 1997.  There were a number of minor comments which have now
been processed.  The draft DTR was submitted to SC22 for its DTR ballot in
July 1997.

22.02.02   Programming Language Fortran - Part 2: Varying length character
strings
     The non-normative annexe of this Standard is being revised to take
advantage of the facilities of Fortran 95.  However, work on the revision
has identified certain difficulties which are currently being resolved.
It is hoped to have a draft CD ready for balloting later this year.

22.02.03   Programming Language Fortran - Part 3: Conditional Compilation
     A draft CD will be submitted for combined Registration and Approval
ballots later this year.

1.2.3     Cancelled Projects

None

1.2.4     Cooperation and Competition

WG5 cooperates closely with the ANSI NCITS/J3 Fortran Technical Committee,
to whom it has delegated the technical development of Fortran 2000 as well
as the maintenance of Fortran 95 (IS 1539-1:1997).  There is also close
contact with the industry-driven High Performance Fortran Consortium, with
many members of the HPF Consortium also being members of J3 and/or WG5.
Many of those responsible for the development of commercial Fortran
compilers are members of J3 and/or WG5.

Other important liaisons are those with IFIP WG2.5 (Numerical Software) and
ISO/IEC JTC1/SC22/WG20 (Internationalization).

There are no competitive activities.

2     PERIOD REVIEW

2.1     Market Requirements

Fortran is still the language of choice for the majority of scientific and
technological programming, although the damage caused by the long delay
between Fortran 77 and Fortran 90 has still not been reversed.  However
there are now signs of growing use of Fortran 90, and the recent
introduction of two commercial subsets designed for educational use (F
from Imagine, Inc and Elf90 from Lahey Computing Systems, Inc) is
generating increased interest in Fortran from the higher education sector.

This growth in interest, however, means that it is important that the
development of the language can react quickly to market requirements,
while still ensuring that the safeguards of full international review are
maintained.  (Fortran is used by a community which expects that
today's programs will still be running in 25 years' time, and there are
unlikely to be any deletions from the language in the foreseeable future;
any deletions that are proposed are subject, therefore, to extensive
review and consultation.)  In order to react effectively to new
requirements without causing unacceptable delay to the processing of the
main Standard, WG5 decided in 1995 to process certain high priority new
features which were too late to be included in the Fortran 95 revision as
Type 2 Technical Reports, with a guarantee that the feature would
be incorporated unaltered in the next revision of the base Standard unless
experience in implementation or use showed that a modification was
necessary.  The intent of this procedure was to encourage implementors to
add these features to their compilers without waiting for the
next revision of the main language Standard.  Two such TRs, covering
floating point exception handling and enhanced data types are about to be
submitted for their final DTR approval ballots, while a third, concerning
interoperability between Fortran and C, is currently in the process of
being balloted for PDTR approval.

Another perceived market requirement is for a form of conditional
compilation to simplify the transfer of programs between many platforms.
This is being processed as an additional Part of the Fortran Standard, as
it is not currently intended that it should be a requirement for all
Standard-conforming compilers.  It is expected that the draft CD will be
submitted for its first approval ballot later this year.

WG5 has developed a database of requirements for future versions of Fortran
during the last five years since the publication of Fortran 90, and this
formed the basis of a year-long analysis of the features which should be
added to the base language in the next revision, informally known as
Fortran 2000.

Finally, it is worth noting that over 50% of the code in the widely used
SPEC benchmark suite is written in Fortran.

2.2     Achievements

The latest revision of the base Fortran Standard has been approved and is
currently awaiting publication.

At a joint meeting with ANSI NCITS/J3 in Las Vegas in February 1997, the
proposed content of the next revision (Fortran 2000) was finalised.

2.3     Resources

As elsewhere in the Standardization world, it is becoming increasingly
difficult to persuade employers to provide the necessary funding for
Standards activity.  Nevertheless, this has been a good year for WG5 with
38 people from seven countries attending the joint meeting with J3
in Las Vegas in February, and 25 people from seven countries attending
WG5's regular meeting in Vienna in July.  In addition members from other
countries, notably France and Russia, are active in email discussions
although unable to attend meetings.

3     FOCUS FOR NEXT WORK PERIOD

3.1     Deliverables

It is anticipated that the TRs on Floating point exception handling (PDTR
15580) and enhanced data types (PDTR 15581) will be approved by the end of
1997 or very shortly thereafter, while the TR on interoperability between
Fortran and C (PDTR 15815) and the new part 3 of the Standard (Conditional
Compilation) will, hopefully, be approved by the summer of 1998.

It is expected that the revision of IS 1539-2 (Varying length character
strings) will proceed to Final CD stage during the next year.

3.2     Strategies

WG5 operates under a strategic plan described in WG5 Standing Document 4,
whose latest
revision is annexed to this report as WG5 N1287.  In particular, the
revision of the base
Standard, IS 1539-1, is delegated to ANSI NCITS/J3 operating as WG5's Primary
Development Body, while the other projects for which WG5 is responsible are
handled by
other Development Bodies which liaise with the Primary development Body as
required.

3.2.1     Risks

As far as possible, WG5 tries to anticipate technical comments during
international ballots by
holding informal ballots of its members before any documents are submitted
for ballot.
Nevertheless, unexpected technical comments can always delay the planned
schedule.

3.2.2     Opportunities

WG5 has made extensive use of email for over a decade to speed up technical
development.
Since 1995 most documents have been distributed via an official file server
in the UK, with
two mirror sites in the USA.  A web site is also used to provide static and
non-technical
information.  This system is currently being revised in accordance with the
latest JTC1
guidelines.

In addition to speeding up the distribution of documents, the use of
electronic distribution and
communication systems also provides many other benefits, such as the
ability to rapidly carry
out informal ballots of the members for various reasons.

3.3     Work Program Priorities

Publication of the two TRs on Floating point exception handling (PDTR
15580) and enhanced
data types (PDTR 15581) is our top priority for 1997-98.

Second priority is the publication of the third TR on interoperability
between Fortran and C.

Third priority is the progression of Part 3 of the Standard (Conditional
Compilation to Final CD
stage.

4     OTHER ITEMS

4.1     Action Requested at Forthcoming SC22 Plenary

4.1.1     Project Editor for the Revision of ISO/IEC IS 1539-1:1997

WG5 requests SC22 to appoint Richard Maine (USA) as Project Editor for the
revision of the
base Fortran Standard - ISO/IEC IS 1539-1:1997.  [Richard Maine was the
Project Editor for
the revision which produced the text of ISO/IEC IS 1539-1:1997]

4.1.2     Extension of Scope of Project 22.02.02

WG5 currently has approval to revise the non-normative annexe to ISO/IEC IS
1539-2:1994,
which contains an example Fortran 90 module which could be used to
implement the normative
part of the Standard.  During the preliminary work on this revision it has
become apparent that
it would be useful to make some minor revisions to the normative text of
the Standard, and
WG5 therefore requests SC22 to extend the scope of the project to allow
revision of the
normative text in addition to the non-normative text.

4.1.3     Simultaneous CD Registration and CD Approval Ballots for Revision of
          ISO/IEC IS 1539-2:1994

WG5 requests the approval of SC22 to carry out simultaneous registration
and approval ballots
for the forthcoming CD of the revised Part 2 of the Fortran Standard
(ISO/IEC IS 1539-2)

4.2     Electronic Document Distribution

As noted above, WG5 plans to move to exclusive electronic distribution of
all documents later
in 1997, having been distributing in this form to almost all members since
1995.

In accordance with the recommendations of the JTC1 Ad Hoc Group on the
Implementation of
IT, WG5 will, at the same time, reorganise its document database so that
documents can be
accessed directly from the WG5 web pages, as well as directly from the ftp
server.
Appropriate access control mechanisms will also be introduced where necessary.

Subject to confirmation, the WG5 www and ftp servers will also move from
their present
locations to a new site - which also hosts the www and ftp servers for
WG5's Primary
Development Body (ANSI NCITS/J3).

4.3     Recent Meetings

1997/2/10-14          Las Vegas, USA          This was a joint meeting with
ANSI NCITS/J3.
1997/7/21-25          Vienna, Austria

4.4     Future Meetings

(Note that WG5 normally meets annually, with extra meetings being held
as/when necessary to
process ballot comments or other high priority activities which do not
accord with the regular
meeting schedule.  WG5's Primary Development Body, ANSI NCITS/J3, meets
quarterly.
Other work is carried out via email.)

1998/6/8-12        Trollhättan, Sweden
1999               France or UK
2000               Finland
2001               UK (unless the UK hosts the 1999 meeting)

4.5     Annexed Documents

WG5 N1286     SC22 Project Information (WG5 Standing Document 3)

WG5 N1287     Strategic Plan for Fortran Standardization (WG5 Standing
Document 4)

---------------- Annexe A - WG5 Project Information -------------

                                                   ISO/IEC JTC1/SC22/WG5 N1286
                                                       WG5 Standing Document 3
                                                                  15 July 1997

SC22 Project Information:  WG5 - Fortran

Work Item 22.02.01.01
Programming Language Fortran - 1:  Base language
(Revision of IS 1539:1991)

Project Editor:  Richard Maine  (USA)

Current ITTF Registered Document:     DIS 1539-1
Current Reference Documents:     DIS 1539-1

Stage          Process                    Target Date          Actual Date

3     CD submitted for registration          95-06               95-05
      CD ballot initiated                    95-06               95-06
      CD ballot comments circulated          95-10               95-10
4     DIS registered                         96-03               96-07
      DIS ballot initiated                   96-04               96-09
      DIS ballot comments circulated         96-08               97-04
5     Final text of DIS sent to ITTF         96-09               97-06
      Standard published                     96-10

Work Item 22.02.01.02
Type 2 TR on Floating Point Exception Handling

Project Editor:  John Reid  (UK)

Current ITTF Registered Document:     PDTR 15580
Current Reference Documents:     N2319 (PDTR), WG5 N1281 (draft DTR)

Stage          Process                    Target Date          Actual Date

2     Subdivision of Work Item authorized    95-09               95-09
3     PDTR submitted for registration        96-10               96-10
      PDTR ballot initiated                  96-10               96-11
      PDTR ballot comments circulated        97-02               97-03
4     DTR registered                         97-04
      DTR ballot initiated                   97-04
      DTR ballot comments circulated         97-08
5     Amended document sent to ITTF          97-09
      Technical Report published             97-10

Work Item 22.02.01.02
Type 2 TR on Interoperability Between Fortran and C

Project Editor:  Michael Hennecke  (Germany)

Current ITTF Registered Document:     PDTR 15815
Current Reference Documents:     N2468 (PDTR)

Stage          Process                    Target Date          Actual Date

2     Subdivision of Work Item authorized    95-09               95-09
3     PDTR submitted for registration        97-03               97-04
      PDTR ballot initiated                  97-03               97-05
      PDTR ballot comments circulated        97-07
4     DTR registered                         97-09
      DTR ballot initiated                   97-09
      DTR ballot comments circulated         98-01
5     Amended document sent to ITTF          98-02
      Technical Report published             98-03

Work Item 22.02.01.02
Type 2 TR on Enhanced Data Type Facilities

Project Editor:  Malcolm Cohen  (UK)

Current ITTF Registered Document:     PDTR 15581
Current Reference Documents:     N2318 (PDTR), WG5 N1282 (draft DTR)

Stage          Process                    Target Date          Actual Date

2     Subdivision of Work Item authorized    95-09               95-09
3     PDTR submitted for registration        96-10               96-10
      PDTR ballot initiated                  96-10               96-11
      PDTR ballot comments circulated        97-02               97-03
4     DTR registered                         97-04
      DTR ballot initiated                   97-04
      DTR ballot comments circulated         97-08
5     Amended document sent to ITTF          97-09
      Technical Report published             97-10

Work Item 22.02.02
Programming Language Fortran - Part 2:  Varying length character strings
(Revision of non-normative annexe of IS 1539-2:1994)

Project Editor:  Lawrie Schonfelder  (UK)

Current ITTF Registered Document:     IS 1539-2 : 1994
Current Reference Documents:     (none)

Stage          Process                    Target Date          Actual Date

3     CD submitted for registration          97-10
      Final CD ballot initiated              97-11
      Final CD ballot comments circulated    98-05
4     DIS registered                         98-07
      DIS ballot initiated                   98-07
      DIS ballot result circulated           98-10
5     Standard published                     99-02

Work Item 22.02.03
Programming Language Fortran - Part 3:  Conditional Compilation

Project Editor:  David Epstein  (USA)

Current ITTF Registered Document:     (none)
Current Reference Documents:          WG5 1283 (draft CD)

Stage          Process                    Target Date          Actual Date

3     CD submitted for registration          97-09
      Final CD ballot initiated              97-09
      Final CD ballot comments circulated    98-03
4     DIS registered                         98-05
      DIS ballot initiated                   98-05
      DIS ballot result circulated           98-08
5     Standard published                     98-12

------------- Annexe B - WG5 Strategic Plan --------------------

                                                   ISO/IEC JTC1/SC22/WG5 N1287
                                                       WG5 Standing Document 4
                                                                  24 July 1997

Strategic Plan for Fortran Standardization

The international standard for Fortran is a multi-part set of standards.
Part 1 defines the base
language; other parts define optional auxiliary standards.

1.     Mission (the goal to achieve)

The mission of WG5 is to be responsive to changing technology and user
needs by establishing
procedures whereby all parts of the international Fortran standard are
updated and revised in
accordance with ISO procedures.

The standard will be developed and maintained by a broad and balanced
international group of
users, vendors, and academics, collectively providing appropriate expertise.

2.     Vision (desired effect of achieving the goal)

The international scientific and engineering community will be provided
with a single worldwide
Fortran standard that be a modern language with high quality data
abstraction and user extensibility features for high performance numerical,
scientific and engineering programming.

3.     Strategies (functions to achieve the goal)

3.1     Two major functions
There are two major functions: (1) identification of needs and
specification of standard
requirements and (2) development of standard document content and
maintenance of the current
standard.  Other activities include scheduling, performing liaison and
review activities, and
conducting ad hoc studies.  The requirements and development functions
should be separate but
highly coordinated.

3.2     Requirements as the "what" function
The result of requirements specification is a document that prescribes the
functional requirements
for a revision of the base language standard or of related standards.
Draft documents (standards,
amendments, corrigenda, technical reports, etc.) will be submitted to ISO
for adoption.

WG5, on a continuing basis, determines, records, distributes, and maintains
the needs and
suggested requirements for Fortran.  To begin a new revision WG5, using the
recorded needs and
suggested requirements, establishes objectives and corresponding functional
requirements,
specifications, and schedule for that revision.

3.3     Development as the "how" function
The development function develops the international standard revisions,
corrigenda, amendments,
and related auxiliary standards, in accordance with the specified
requirements and schedule.

A development body will be chosen to produce each revision or new auxiliary
standard.  The
development body for a revision of the base Fortran standard is the primary
development body.  It
is the responsibility of each development body to determine how the
requirements are to be met and
to prepare the corresponding draft document.  Revisions of the Fortran
standard will incorporate
approved corrections as well as fully implemented requirements.

Maintenance of a standard involves correcting errors that are discovered in
the standard and
providing official interpretations for those parts of the standard that are
found to be unclear or
incompletely specified.  A corrigendum that incorporates corrections
resulting from this
maintenance activity will be produced periodically.

3.4     Scheduling
WG5 will determine the approximate target date for each revision of the
base standard - typically
between five and ten years - and will negotiate with the primary
development body a detailed
schedule consistent with this target.  For other development work WG5 will
negotiate an
appropriate schedule with the corresponding development body.  Activities
involving maintenance
of the current standard will take place concurrently with the development
activities.

3.5     The multi-part standard and technical reports
Some needs may be met most effectively with auxiliary standards rather than
by revision of the
base standard.  Such an auxiliary standard is related to the base standard
in some significant way;
each auxiliary standard is a separate part of the Fortran standard, with
Part 1 being the base
language.  Standard-conforming implementations must accommodate the whole
of Part 1; the other
parts are optional.

Because of the serious potential for incompatibilities arising from
uncoordinated extension
activities, WG5 requests that all bodies developing auxiliary standards
coordinate their work
closely with the primary development body and requires that the work be
technically acceptable to
the primary development body before approval by WG5.

At some point it may become appropriate to incorporate an auxiliary
standard into the base
standard.  WG5 will accomplish this by assigning the integration to the
primary development
body, with assistance from the development body responsible for maintenance
of the auxiliary
standard.

3.6     Liaison and review activities
It is the responsibility of WG5 and the development bodies to establish
liaison or contact with and
review the work of other organizations whose work items relate to the
Fortran standards effort.  A
list of such organizations is maintained in WG5 Standing Document 6, WG5
Liaison Activities.

3.7     Conducting ad hoc studies
It is the responsibility of WG5 to determine whether studies are needed to
aid the identification and requirements specification processes.  WG5 may
carry out such ad hoc studies or may request one
or more participating member bodies to carry out such studies.

4     Tactics (implementing the strategies)

4.1     Principal responsibilities of WG5
WG5 will:

(a)  maintain a repository of suggested requirements (Standing Document 5)
(b)  define revision objectives and select the corresponding functional
requirements for
     development after comprehensive review
(c)  determine whether a given requirement can best be met by a revision of
a part of the
     Fortran standard, the addition of a new part of the Fortran standard
or by a technical report
(d)  choose the development bodies and delegate all development and draft
document preparation
     to them
(e)  monitor development (Where progress is not consistent with the
schedule WG5 will,
     together with the development body, determine if corrective  action
can be taken by the
     development body; if this is not possible it will be necessary for WG5
to reassign some or
     all items to another  development body, or to delete some items from
the specification or to
     revise the schedule)
(f)  monitor maintenance activities
(g)  determine whether a final draft document is adequate and consistent
with the specified
     requirements
(h)  submit draft documents to ISO
(i)  commission Technical Report projects, as needed, as described in
WG5-N1152.

The WG5 Convenor will when appropriate conduct letter ballots of the
members to assist in
reaching decisions between meetings.

4.2     Principal responsibilities of the development bodies
A development body will:
(a)  nominate a project editor
(b)  produce a draft document to meet the agreed schedule and specified
requirements
(c)  establish a document production system that will allow the most recent
electronic version
     of any proposed standard to be available to all members of WG5 and the
development body
(d)  coordinate with other development bodies and organizations, as
appropriate.

4.3   The Schedule
The specific schedules for the current WG5 projects are detailed in WG5
Standing Document 3,
SC22 Project Information.  The usual schedule for a standard, or revision
of a standard, has the
following general form:

     Initial requirements prepared
     Review of requirements completed
     Final definition of requirements
     Completion of separate edits
     First working draft available
     WG5 approval of the Committee Draft (CD)                6 months expected
     First CD submitted for registration and approval        1
     First CD ballot initiated                               1
     First CD ballot comments available                      4
     Final CD submitted for approval                         5
     Final CD ballot initiated                               1
     Final CD ballot comments available                      5
     WG5 approval of the Draft International Standard (DIS)  1
     DIS registered                                          2
     DIS ballot initiated                                    1
     DIS ballot results available                            3
     Standard published                                      2

4.4     Fortran maintenance bodies
WG5 will determine maintenance bodies for Fortran revision standards,
auxiliary standards, and
technical reports.  In general, the body that develops a standard will be
responsible for its
maintenance.

WG5 will conduct a letter ballot on items that the maintenance body
identifies as ready for further
processing.  From the items thus approved, WG5 will extract material
appropriate for a technical
corrigendum and forward the resulting draft to SC22 for further processing.
This procedure will
be repeated annually, except for those years in which a standard revision
including the approved
items is forwarded to SC22.

4.5     Coordination between WG5 and development bodies
Meeting schedules will be coordinated to make the best advantage of
members' resources as far as
time and travel expenses are concerned and to accomplish the goals
established by the schedule.

There should be as much overlap as possible in the membership of WG5 and
development bodies,
especially with the primary development body.  This provides informal
communication and
continuity.

Formal written reports and resolutions will be used to clarify
communications and maintain a
record of communications.

____________________ end of SC22 N2533 ________________________________