From rinehuls@Radix.Net Wed Jun 16 22:27:17 1999 Received: from mail1.radix.net (mail1.radix.net [209.48.224.31]) by dkuug.dk (8.9.2/8.9.2) with ESMTP id WAA47750 for ; Wed, 16 Jun 1999 22:27:16 +0200 (CEST) (envelope-from rinehuls@Radix.Net) Received: from saltmine.radix.net (saltmine.radix.net [209.48.224.40]) by mail1.radix.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with SMTP id QAA06349 for ; Wed, 16 Jun 1999 16:26:54 -0400 (EDT) Date: Wed, 16 Jun 1999 16:26:52 -0400 (EDT) From: William Rinehuls To: sc22docs@dkuug.dk Subject: N2938 - WG17 Business Plan and Convener Report for SC22 Plenary 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 N2938 TITLE: SC22/WG17 Business Plan and Convener Report for the September 1999 JTC 1/SC22 Plenary DATE ASSIGNED: 1999-06-16 SOURCE: Secretariat, ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC22 BACKWARD POINTER: N/A DOCUMENT TYPE: Convener Report PROJECT NUMBER: N/A STATUS: Please note that this report contains action items to be handled at the Plenary. ACTION IDENTIFIER: FYI DUE DATE: N/A DISTRIHBUTION: 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@radix.net ____________ end of title page; beginning of report ______________________ BUSINESS PLAN AND CONVENER'S REPORT: ISO/IEC JTC1/SC22/WG17 (PROLOG) PERIOD COVERED: June 1998 - May 1999 SUBMITTED BY: R S Scowen (ISO/IEC JTC1 SC22 WG17 Convener) 9 Birchwood Grove, Hampton, Middlesex United Kingdom TW12 3DU Tel: +44 (0)181 979 7429; Fax: +44 (0)181 287 3810; E-mail: rss@cise.npl.co.uk 16 June 1999 1. MANAGEMENT SUMMARY 1.1 JTC1/SC22/WG17 STATEMENT OF SCOPE Development of ISO/IEC standards related to the programming language Prolog. 1.2 PROJECT REPORT 1.2.1 COMPLETED PROJECTS JTC1.22.22.01 -- ISO/IEC 13211-1 Prolog - Part 1: General core ISO/IEC 13211-1 was published in June 1995. So far, no serious problems have been reported. 1.2.2 PROJECTS UNDERWAY JTC1.22.22.02 -- ISO/IEC 13211-2 Prolog - Part 2: Modules FCD 13211-2 (SC22 N2737) was approved in a ballot ending in December 1998. The ballot was approved (see N2855 and N2863). A ballot resolution meeting was held in January 1999 (see N2878 for minutes and resolutions). The disposition of comments has been published (SC22 N2929). The DIS is scheduled for July 1999, and it is hoped to publish the standard as ISO/IEC 13211-2:1999 in December 1999. 1.2.3 NEW PROJECTS ISO/IEC 13211-1:1995 is approaching its five-year review. WG17 intend to prepare a revision, primarily in order to correct a few known minor errors, but also to see if there are further facilities where standardization would be a benefit. 1.3 COOPERATION AND COMPETITION WG17 has always tried to cooperate with the whole Prolog community. Although many are not well aware of Prolog and its unique functionality, there are many important applications. Where appropriate, WG17 has established contact with other SC22 working groups. There is no direct competition with any other efforts. 2.0 PERIOD REVIEW 2.1 MARKET REQUIREMENTS The Prolog user community has expressed a wish for the standard to be more readily available. It is noteworthy how queries from users in the newsgroup 'comp.lang.prolog' are often answered by describing the requirements made by the "ISO standard". Queries why a particular processor behaves in a particular fashion are similarly explained with reference to the ISO standard. 2.2 ACHIEVEMENTS ISO/IEC 13211-1 (Prolog, General core) was published in June 1995. FCD 13211-2 (Modules) was published in May 1998. WG17 hosted a forum at the PACLP99 (The Practical Application of Prolog and Constraint Technology) conference in April 1999 in order to recruit new members and discuss the future of standard Prolog. SC22 WG17's web site is: http://www.sju.edu/~jhodgson/wg17/wg17web.html 2.3 RESOURCES Although resources in general are declining, the future of the current WG17 projects seems to be secured. There is a project editor and backup project editor for Part 2 as well as for the completed core Language Standard. 3.0 FOCUS NEXT WORK PERIOD For the upcoming work period, WG17's main task will be to publish ISO/IEC DIS 13211-2 and ISO/IEC 13211-2:1999. WG17 also intend to consider revision of ISO/IEC 13211-1:1995. Where an extension would not be trivial, WG17 may recommend that the extension is published as a new and separate part of ISO/IEC 13211. 3.1 DELIVERABLES ISO/IEC 13211-2 Prolog - Part 2: Modules Publication of DIS 1999-07-31 Camera ready copy of standard to ITTF 1999-11-30 3.2 STRATEGIES WG17 has two principal strategies: (1) technical excellence, and (2) liaison with all interested parties 3.2.1 RISKS The problems raised by Germany have now been resolved, and no further problems are anticipated. 3.2.2 OPPORTUNITIES The standard will undoubtedly be more widely adopted when it is freely available electronically over the web. 3.3 WORK PROGRAM PRIORITIES The completion of ISO/IEC 13211-2 has priority at present. 4. OTHER ITEMS This section lists other items that are not part of the "Business Plan" but are appropriate for the "Convener's Report". 4.1 POSSIBLE ACTION REQUEST AT FORTHCOMING PLENARY WG17 requests permission from SC22 to correct errors in ISO/IEC 13211-1:1995, and to consider whether more wide-ranging revisions would be appropriate. 4.2 CONVENERS AND PROJECT EDITOR Roger Scowen has been WG17 convener since the Working Group was created in 1987. With the completion of Part 2 imminent, he now wishes to step down. WG17 recommends Jonathan Hodgson (currently project editor of Part 2) be appointed as convener of WG17. The following individuals have been appointed project editors and backup project editors, respectively: JTC1.22.22.01 -- Prolog, Base Language Roger Scowen (main), Jonathan Hodgson (backup) JTC1.22.22.02 -- Prolog, Modules Jonathan Hodgson (main), Roger Scowen (backup) 4.4 ELECTRONIC DOCUMENT DISTRIBUTION All discussions and decisions within the working group are taken using e-mail. 4.5 RECENT MEETING The last meeting of WG17 took place in London, England on 7-8 January 1999. 4.6 FUTURE MEETINGS No future meetings are currently planned, until it is clear whether substantial work on Part 1 will be required. 5 DRAFT RESOLUTIONS FOR SC22 The following draft resolutions arise from clauses 4.1 and 4.2 in the report above. 5.1 APPOINTMENT OF WG17 CONVENER SC22 appoints Jonathan Hodgson as convener of WG17. 5.2 REVISION of ISO/IEC 13211-1:1995 Prolog: Part 1 - General core SC22 instructs WG17: (1) to revise ISO/IEC 13211-1:1995 (Prolog: Part 1 - General Core) by correcting known errors, and (2) to consider what other functionality should be standardized in Prolog, and whether it should be defined as a separate part of ISO/IEC 13211, or incorporated into the revision of Part 1. ____________________ end of SC22 2938 __________________________________