From rinehuls@access.digex.net Thu Jul 2 23:36:32 1998 Received: from access4.digex.net (qlrhmEbBUV1EY@access4.digex.net [205.197.245.195]) by dkuug.dk (8.6.12/8.6.12) with ESMTP id XAA29525 for ; Thu, 2 Jul 1998 23:36:28 +0200 Received: from localhost (rinehuls@localhost) by access4.digex.net (8.8.4/8.8.4) with SMTP id RAA09410 for ; Thu, 2 Jul 1998 17:36:06 -0400 (EDT) Date: Thu, 2 Jul 1998 17:36:06 -0400 (EDT) From: "william c. rinehuls" To: sc22docs@dkuug.dk Subject: SC22 N2752 - WG9 Business Plan and Conveners Report In-Reply-To: <980701141236.18706@mail04.mitre.org.0> Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII ___________________ 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: rinehuls@acces.digex.net ____________ 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) James.W.Moore@ieee.org 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 _______________ end of SC22 N2752 ___________________________________