JTC1/SC22 N3296

From:ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC22
Programming languages, their environments and system software interfaces
Secretariat:  U.S.A.  (ANSI)
 
ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC22 N3296
 
TITLE:
JTC 1/SC 22/WG 13 Business Plan and Convenor's Report

DATE ASSIGNED:
2001-08-28
 
SOURCE:
SC 22/WG 13 Convenor (M. Schoenhacker)

BACKWARD POINTER:
N/A
 
DOCUMENT TYPE:
Other document (Open)

PROJECT NUMBER:
N/A
 
STATUS:
This document will be reviewed at the upcoming SC 22 Plenary under Agenda
Item 8.6 pending the approval of its addition to the agenda.

ACTION IDENTIFIER:
FYI
 
DUE DATE:
  
DISTRIBUTION:
Text

CROSS REFERENCE:
 
DISTRIBUTION FORM:
Open
 
Address reply to:
ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC22 Secretariat
Matt Deane
ANSI
25 West 43rd Street
New York, NY  10036
Telephone:  (212) 642-4992
Fax:             (212) 840-2298
Email:  mdeane@ansi.org

_______end of cover page, beginning of report____________
 

----- WG13 Convener's Report and Business Plan follows -------------

      Business Plan and Convener's Report
      ISO/IEC JTC1/SC22/WG13 (Modula-2)

      Document ISO/IEC JTC1/SC22/WG13 D264


PERIOD COVERED:
July 2000 - July 2001

SUBMITTED BY:
Convener of ISO/IEC JTC1/SC22/WG13
Dr. Martin Schoenhacker
Vienna University of Technology
Department of Computer Graphics and Algorithms
Karlsplatz 13/1861
A-1040 Vienna, Austria
Phone: +43 1 58801 18617
Fax:   +43 1 58801 18699
EMail: schoenhacker@ads.tuwien.ac.at


1. MANAGEMENT SUMMARY

1.1 JTC1/SC22/WG13 STATEMENT OF SCOPE

Development of ISO/IEC Standards related to the programming language
Modula-2.


1.2 PROJECT REPORT

1.2.1 COMPLETED PROJECTS

JTC1.22.18.01 -- IS 10514-1 Modula-2, Base Language

  IS 10514-1 was published June 1st, 1996.
  So far, no serious problems have been reported.

JTC1.22.18.02 -- DIS 10514-3 Objected Oriented Modula-2

  IS 10514-3 was published December 19th, 1998.
  So far, no serious problems have been reported.

JTC1.22.18.04 -- DIS 10514-2 Generics in Modula-2

  IS 10514-2 was published December 19th, 1998.
  So far, no serious problems have been reported.


1.2.2 PROJECTS UNDERWAY

JTC1.22.15436 -- Interfacing Modula-2 to C

  This project to produce a Type 3 Technical Report has been
  assigned to WG13 following a letter ballot in January 1997.
  It is currently in Working Draft stage.

  REQUEST TO SC22 PLENARY 2001:
  Due to the severe lack of participation and therefore of
  progress in this work item, WG13 requests the cancellation
  of project JTC1.22.15436.


1.2.3 CANCELLED PROJECTS

As requested by WG13 at the 1996 SC22 Plenary, the following
projects formerly assigned to WG13 have been terminated:

JTC1.22.03 -- Modula-2 to Posix Binding

JTC1.22.05 -- Support for Commercial Programming in Modula-2

JTC1.22.06 -- Further support for Concurrent Programming in Modula-2


1.2.4 COOPERATION AND COMPETITION

WG13 has always tried to cooperate with as many compiler writers as
possible, and contacts to industry still work quite well.  Although
the general public is unfortunately not well aware of Modula-2,
there are various important applications.  In particular, the
language is being used in the implementation of safety-critical
and/or embedded systems, e.g. in car electronics and automated train
control.  Also, it is being used as the implementation language for
a word processing package with an installed base of more than 20.000
copies, as well as for teaching purposes at various universities.

Where appropriate, WG13 has established contact with other SC22
working groups.  There is no apparent direct competition with any
other efforts.


2.0 PERIOD REVIEW

No WG13 standards are due for periodic review in 2002.


2.1 MARKET REQUIREMENTS

WG13 reacted to strong demands by the Modula-2 user community in
preparing extensions to IS 10514-1.  In particular, there was
popular demand for Object Oriented Extensions, and it is hoped that
the publication of IS 10514-3 will lead to a uniform way of handling
these extensions in the available compilers.  With regard to
Generics, there was popular demand mainly from academia which has
also been met in IS 10514-2.  Finally, the requirement for
interfacing to libraries defined in the C language is being handled
by project JTC1.22.15436.  WG13 is currently not aware of any other
demands or concerns regarding Modula-2.


2.2 ACHIEVEMENTS

IS 10514-1 (Modula-2, Base Language) was published June 1st, 1996.
IS 10514-2 (Generics in Modula-2) was published December 19th, 1998.
IS 10514-3 (Object Oriented Extensions) was published December 19th,
           1998.

The WG13 Web site can be found at http://sc22wg13.twi.tudelft.nl/


2.3 RESOURCES

Although resources in general are declining, the future of the
current WG13 projects seems to be secured.  There are project
editors and backup project editors for all the active projects, as
well as for the completed Base Language Standard.


3.0 FOCUS NEXT WORK PERIOD

For the upcoming work period, work on the Technical Report on
Interfacing Modula-2 to C will have to be progressed as quickly as
possible.


3.1 DELIVERABLES

After the cancellation of project JTC1.22.15436 -- Interfacing
Modula-2 to C, there will be no open projects.


3.2 STRATEGIES


3.2.1 RISKS

No problems are anticipated.


3.2.2 OPPORTUNITIES

After the cancellation of project JTC1.22.15436 -- Interfacing
Modula-2 to C, there will be no open projects.


3.3 WORK PROGRAM PRIORITIES

After the cancellation of project JTC1.22.15436 -- Interfacing
Modula-2 to C, there will be no open projects.


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 PROJECT EDITORS

The following individuals serve as project editors and backup
project editors, respectively:

JTC1.22.18.01 -- Modula-2, Base Language
    Cornelis Pronk (main), Martin Schoenhacker (backup)

JTC1.22.18.02 -- Object Oriented Modula-2
    Albert Wiedemann (main), John Lancaster (backup)

JTC1.22.18.04 -- Generics in Modula-2
    Richard J. Sutcliffe (main), Cornelis Pronk (backup)

JTC1.22.15436 -- Interfacing Modula-2 to C
    Eberhard Enger (main), Martin Schleusser (backup)


4.2 ELECTRONIC DOCUMENT DISTRIBUTION

WG13 has been working over e-mail for a considerable time now, and
recent decisions within the working group have mostly been taken
using e-mail.  This seems the only practical way for the future, in
particular as travel budgets appear to be shrinking everywhere.

In addition to the e-mail reflector, WG13 has its own ftp and Web
sites which have recently been expanded to offer more services (e.g.
FAQ and Publications) to the Modula-2 community.


4.3 RECENT MEETINGS

The 12th meeting of WG13 took place at the University of Linz,
Linz, Austria, March 17th-18th, 1997.


4.4 FUTURE MEETINGS

No future meetings are anticipated.


4.5 WORKING GROUP MODE

REQUEST TO SC22 PLENARY 2001:
Since there will be no open projects after the cancellation of
project JTC1.22.15436 -- Interfacing Modula-2 to C, it would seem
appropriate to switch WG13's mode of operation to "maintenance".
WG13 is therefore requesting this change based on the assumption
that the project cancellation request will be granted.


----- end of WG13 Convener's Report and Business Plan --------------

_______________________________________________
Dr. Martin Schoenhacker (Schönhacker)
Assistant Professor of Computer Science
Department of Computer Graphics and Algorithms
Vienna University of Technology / Dept. E186-1
Karlsplatz 13/186-1, A-1040 Wien, Austria
Tel.: +43 1 58801 18617, Fax: +43 1 58801 18699