Subject: SC22 N2752 - WG9 Business Plan and Conveners Report

From: "william c. rinehuls" <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 2 Jul 1998 17:36:06 -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
N2752

TITLE:
WG9 Business Plan and WG9 Convener's Report for the August 1998 JTC 1/SC22
Plenary - PLENARY AGENDA ITEM

DATE ASSIGNED:
1998-07-02

SOURCE:
Secretariat, ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC22

BACKWARD POINTER
N/A

DOCUMENTATION:
WG Convener's Report

PROJECT NUMBER:
N/A

STATUS:
This document will be on the agenda for discussion at the August 1998 JTC
1/SC22 Plenary

ACTION IDENTIFIER:
FYI

DUE DATE:
N/A
         
DISTRIBUTION:
Text

CROSS REFERENCE:
N/A

DISTRIBUTION FORM:
Def

Address reply to:
ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC22 Secretariat
William C. Rinehuls
8457 Rushing Creek Court
Springfield, VA 22153 USA
Telephone:  +1 (703) 912-9680
Fax:  +1 (703) 912-2973
email:  [email-masked]

____________ end of title page; beginning of report ________________
 
          Convener's Report, ISO/IEC JTC1/SC22/WG9 (Ada)

This report is in the form of the requested "Business Plan." Other items
are included in an additional Section 4. 

BUSINESS PLAN FOR ISO/IEC JTC1/SC22/WG9 (Ada) 

PERIOD COVERED: 
June 1997 - June 1998 

SUBMITTED BY: 
Convener of ISO/IEC JTC1/SC22/WG9 
James W. Moore 
The MITRE Corporation, W534 
1820 Dolley Madison Blvd. 
McLean, Virginia 22102 
USA 
703.883.7396 (Office)  
703.883.5432 (Fax) 
[email-masked]  

1. MANAGEMENT SUMMARY 

1.1 JTC1/SC22/WG9 STATEMENT OF SCOPE 

Development of ISO standards for Programming Language Ada
 
1.2 PROJECT REPORT 

 1.2.1 COMPLETED PROJECTS 
 22.10.01 -- IS 8652:1995 Programming Languages: Ada Planning for the  
 revision of 8652 is commencing. 

 22.10.02 -- IS 11430:1994 Generic Package of Elementary Functions for Ada
 
 22.10.03 -- IS 11729:1994 Generic Package of Primitive Functions for Ada
 
 The contents of 11430 and 11729 are substantively subsumed by the
 subsequent approval of the 1995 revision of 8652. WG9 has requested that
 these standards be withdrawn at the conclusion of their five-year review
 period.

 22.31 -- IS 12227:1995 SQL/Ada Module Description Language (SAMeDL) 
 WG9 has determined that the revision of 12227 is currently unnecessary;
 this decision will be reconsidered periodically. 
 
 22.35 -- (Type 2) TR 11735:1996 EXTensions for real-time Ada 
 The contents of 11735 are substantively subsumed by the 1995 revision of
 8652. This Technical Report will be withdrawn when usage of the 1987
 version of the Ada language has diminished. 
 
1.2.2 PROJECTS UNDERWAY 

 22.10.04 -- IS 13813 Generic packages of real and complex type
 declarations and basic operations for Ada (including vector and matrix
 types) 
 WG9 has submitted this document to ISO Central Secretariat for
 publication.
 
 22.10.05 -- IS 13814 Generic package of complex elementary functions for
 Ada 
 WG9 has submitted this document to ISO Central Secretariat for
 publication.

 22.15291-- FCD 15291 Ada Semantic Interface Specification (ASIS) 
 WG9 has approved the disposition of comments from the FCD ballot. The
 project editor has been instructed to prepare a revised draft and
 forward it to the SC22 Secretariat for FDIS balloting.
 22.15942 --  WD 15942 Guidance for the use of the Ada Programming
 Language in High Integrity Systems
 A WD has been distributed to WG9. A revised WD will be circulated in WG9
 for email ballot approval. During the autumn of 1998, the draft will be
 sent to SC22 for pDTR registration.
 
1.2.3 NEW PROJECTS 
 A new work item will be proposed for a standard on the subject of
 conformity assessment of Ada language processors. The new work item
 proposal and an initial WD will be circulated to SC22 for endorsement at
 the 1998 plenary meeting.

1.2.4 COOPERATION AND COMPETITION 
 There are two major professional societies in this area: the Special
 Interest Group on Ada (SIG) of the Association for Computing Machinery
 and Ada-Europe. The semi-annual meetings of WG9 are scheduled to
 coincide with the major conferences organized by these two groups.
 Informal but close cooperation with SIGAda is maintained by the
 convener. The UK Head of Delegation to WG9 is also an officer of
 Ada-Europe. 

 There is one major vendor consortium, the Ada Resource Association
 (ARA). Informal liaison with ARA is maintained. WG9 is looking for
 opportunities to transpose de facto standards from the ARA. 
 The United States Department of Defense (DOD), Ada Joint Program Office
 (AJPO) has a continuing interest in the Ada language. Liaison is assured
 because AJPO funds the convener to serve in his position. 

 In addition, liaison and/or consultation are applied as appropriate with
 other working groups in SC22 and with the IEEE Computer Society Software
 Engineering Standards Committee. 

 2.0 PERIOD REVIEW 
 
 2.1 MARKET REQUIREMENTS 
 The most fundamental change in the market has been action by the US DOD
 to drop its "mandate" of Ada in all military systems. The choice of
 language to be used will now be made by each individual development
 program. Certain segments of the DOD apparently remain committed to
 favoring Ada, notably the real-time, embedded systems community. Because
 DoD no longer has any official role in the Ada language, it will no
 longer perform compiler validation (i.e. conformity assessment). WG9 has
 been requested to develop a conformity assessment standard to
 reconstitute the authority for the continuing de facto practice of
 compiler validation.

  2.2 ACHIEVEMENTS 
 Achieved during the past year:
 
 Galleys returned to ISO Central Secretariat for publication: IS 13813
 Generic packages of real and complex type declarations and basic
 operations for Ada (including vector and matrix types) 
 
 Galleys returned to ISO Central Secretariat for publication: IS 13814
 Generic package of complex elementary functions for Ada 

 Approval of FCD: 22.15291 Ada Semantic Interface Specification (ASIS) 

 Approval of new work item and initial WD: 22.15942 Guidance for the
 use of the Ada Programming Language in High Integrity Systems

 2.3 RESOURCES 
 With the completion of the major language revision, available resources
 are declining, as expected. All new work item suggestions are screened
 by the requirement for active support from five national bodies. This
 has worked well, resulting in explicit commitments from national bodies
 supporting a possible project. 

 3.0 FOCUS NEXT WORK PERIOD 
 Aside from the specific deliverables described below, the most important
 task of WG9 is to set up a defect resolution and clarification process
 for IS 8652; this work would eventually lead to formal COR or AMD
 documents or to a revision of the base standard. So that preliminary
 defect reports and clarifications may be properly circulated among the
 entire community of concern, it is necessary that they be openly
 available without copyright restrictions. The current uncertainty
 regarding the copyright issue endangers satisfactory performance of this
 task. Even the trial relaxation of the policy is inadequate because the
 threat remains that once such material is introduced into the JTC1
 process, it is subject to imposition of copyright in the future. 

 3.1 DELIVERABLES 
 The following deliverables are anticipated during the next 12 months:
 IS 13813 and IS 13814 will be published 
 FCD 15291 will achieve FDIS approval 
 WD 15942 will achieve pDTR approval 
 The new work item for conformity assessment will be approved and
 achieve CD registration 

 3.2 STRATEGIES 
 Routine processing will suffice to achieve our goals for IS 13813, IS
 13814, FCD 15291 and WD 15942.
 
 To achieve the goal for the new work item, WG9 will request endorsement
 of the new work item at the SC22 plenary and will circulate a WD at that
 time. If comments are favorable, concurrent CD registration and FCD
 ballot will be requested.

 3.2.1 RISKS 
 Unexpectedly heavy technical comment could delay any of the strategies
 described above. WG9 has mitigated this risk by providing mechanisms for
 full treatment of NB technical concerns at the WG level. 

 3.2.2 OPPORTUNITIES 
 None.

 3.3 WORK PROGRAM PRIORITIES 

 1. The items described in Section 2.1 and 3.0 are the top concerns of
 WG9. Much of the appeal of the Ada language is based upon the precision
 of its specification, the robust (but now informal) process of language
 clarification, and compiler validation.

 2. Secondary concerns are the progress of the anticipated deliverables.

 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 ACTION REQUESTED AT FORTHCOMING PLENARY 
 WG9 requests that SC22 appoint Brian Wichmann (UK) to the position of
 Project Editor for 22.15942.
 
 WG9 requests that SC22 endorse a new work item proposal for conformity
 assessment of Ada language processors. (Additional information will be
 circulated separately.)

 WG9 recommends that IS 11430 and IS 11729 be withdrawn at the conclusion
 of their five-year review period.

 4.2 MIGRATION TO ELECTRONIC DISTRIBUTION 
 WG9 is moving rapidly toward electronic distribution. Recent WG9
 documents have been exchanged exclusively via email. A Web page,
 "http://www.dkuug.dk/JTC1/SC22/WG9/" provides documents for
 consultation. 

 4.3 CONCERN WITH COPYRIGHT POLICY 
 As noted in Section 3.0, continuing uncertainty regarding ISO copyright
 policy hampers progress toward an effective defect reporting and
 clarification process. 

 4.4 FUTURE MEETINGS 
 Meeting #35, 13 November 1998, Washington, DC, with SIGAda'98
 conference
 Meeting #36, 12 June 1999, Santander, Spain, with Ada-Europe conference

 4.5 RECENT MEETINGS 
 Meeting #34, 12 June 1998, Uppsala, Sweden, with Ada-Europe conference
 Meeting #33, 14 Nov 1997, St. Louis, Missouri, US, with Tri-Ada
 conference
 Meeting #32, 2 June 1997, London, England, UK, with Ada-Europe  
 conference 
 Meeting #31, 7 December 1996, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, US, with
 Tri-Ada conference
 Meeting #30, 14 June 1996, Montreux, Switzerland

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