JTC1/SC22/WG21 N4609

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Business Plan and Convener's Report
ISO/IEC JTC1/SC22/WG21 (C++)


Document:       ISO/IEC JTC1/SC22/WG21 N4609

Date:           2016-08-11

Period Covered: August 2015 - August 2016

Submitted By:   Convener, ISO/IEC JTC1/SC22/WG2l
                Herb Sutter
                Microsoft Corporation
                1 Microsoft Way
                Redmond WA 98052
                Email: hsutter@microsoft.com
                Tel: +1-425-707-6533


1. MANAGEMENT SUMMARY

1.1 JTC1/SC22/WG21 STATEMENT OF SCOPE

Development and maintenance of ISO/IEC Standards, Technical Specifications, and Technical Reports related to the programming language C++.

1.2. PROJECT REPORT

1.2.1. COMPLETED PROJECTS

JTC1.22.14882 - Programming Language C++ - This project was delivered by the publishing of ISO/IEC 14882:1998, :2003, and :2011, and :2014.

JTC1.22.18015:2006 Information Technology - Programming Languages Technical Report on C++ Performance (Technical Report Type 3) -- Confirmed in 2013 systematic review

JTC1.22.18822:2014: C++ Extensions for File System

JTC1.22.19217:2015: C++ Extensions for Concepts

JTC1.22.19568:2015: C++ Extensions for Library Fundamentals

JTC1.22.19570:2015: C++ Extensions for Parallelism

JTC1.22.19571:2015: C++ Extensions for Concurrency

JTC1.22.19768:2007 Information Technology - Programming Languages Technical Report of Type 2 on C++ Library Extensions (based on ISO/IEC 14882) -- Confirmed in 2013 systematic review

JTC1.22.19841:2015: C++ Extensions for Transactional Memory

JTC1.22.24733 Information Technology - Programming Languages Technical Report of Type 2 on Extensions for the programming language C++ to support decimal floating point arithmetic

JTC1.22.29124 Programming Language C++ - International Standard on Special Math Functions

1.2.2. PROJECTS UNDERWAY

See https://isocpp.org/std/status for a summary of projects underway, including contemplated upcoming ballots.

JTC1.22.14882 - Work is now underway on the next revision, which is currently in CD ballot and targeted for publication in 2017.

JTC1.22.19216: C++ Extensions for Networking - Work is in progress to produce a PDTS draft for ballot in 2017. Tentatively targeted for publication in 2018.

JTC1.22.19568: C++ Extensions for Library Fundamentals - Work on a revision is in progress. Tentatively targeted for publication in 2017.

JTC1.22.19570: C++ Extensions for Parallelism - Work on a revision is in progress. Tentatively targeted for publication in 2018.

JTC1.22.21425: C++ Extensions for Ranges - Work is in progress to produce a PDTS draft for ballot in 2017. Tentatively targeted for publication in 2018.

JTC1.22.21544: C++ Extensions for Modules - Work is in progress to produce a PDTS draft for ballot in 2017. Tentatively targeted for publication in 2018.

1.2.3. CANCELLED PROJECTS

JTC1.22.19569: C++ Extensions for Arrays - As reported as a possibility last year, this work item was abandoned and its components folded into another TS or the main standard.

1.2.4. COOPERATION and COMPETITION

Where appropriate, WG21 has established liaisons with other SC22 and SC22 liaison organizations' working groups. There is no direct competition with any other current SC22 working group. Occasional overlap with SC22/WG14 (C) is coordinated with broad WG21 liaison.


2. PERIOD REVIEW

2.1. MARKET REQUIREMENTS

ISO C++ remains a widely-used foundation technology, well-received in the marketplace.

Although C++ has long been a consistently popular language, since 2011 in particular it has enjoyed a renewed cycle of growth and investment in tools and platform support across the industry. This was driven primarily by the C++11 standard's completion at the same time as the industry saw a resurgence of interest in performance-efficient, hardware-efficient, and especially power-efficient systems programming capability for mobile devices, cloud data centers, high-performance financial systems, vector and GPGPU computing (via nonstandard extensions to C++ that we are now investigating standardizing), and other major growth sectors and environments.

This new cycle of industry investment in C++ includes, but is not limited to, investment in:

    (a) tools, such as the advent of a new major C++ implementation in the Clang compiler and other major new products actively competing to fully implement the latest ISO C++ standard;

    (b) organization, with the establishment of the Standard C++ Foundation trade association in 2012 (see isocpp.org/about);

    (c) standardization participation, so that meeting attendance is regularly approximately 100 experts organized into 10-15 active subgroups -- this includes domain-specific subgroups (e.g., transactional memory, graphics, gaming) that were established since 2012 and have drawn domain experts who did not previously participate in C++ standardization; and

    (d) faster and more predictable standardization output, with regular releases of the standard every three years along with many concurrent Technical Specifications (six completed and published in 2014 and 2015, and five more currently in progress).

2.2. ACHIEVEMENTS

JTC1.22.14882 - Programming Language C++ - International Standard is in CD ballot and is expected to be published in 2017.

JTC1.22.19217:2015: C++ Extensions for Concepts

JTC1.22.19568:2015: C++ Extensions for Library Fundamentals

JTC1.22.19570:2015: C++ Extensions for Parallelism

JTC1.22.19571:2015: C++ Extensions for Concurrency

JTC1.22.19841:2015: C++ Extensions for Transactional Memory

As reported last year, work is progressing quickly on seven Technical Specifications, most expected to be complete within the next year or two. Much of the content in these are likely candidates for inclusion in the next planned revision of IS 14882 in 2017.

2.3. RESOURCES

WG21 has grown considerably over the past two years, which reflects the continued growth and investment in C++ across the industry as noted in 2.1.

WG21 meets two to three times per year in co-located technical sessions with the US committee J16. Where mutually convenient, WG21 has timed its technical sessions to catenate with WG14, allowing those technical experts that would like to attend both technical sessions the opportunity to do so. (The convener of WG21 wishes to thank the outgoing and incoming conveners of WG14 for their much-appreciated efforts at harmonious liaison.)

Nineteen countries participate by attending these meetings or by being involved in the technical discussions that take place over the reflector. The countries are: Austria, Bulgaria, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Islamic Republic of Iran, Japan, DPR of Korea, Netherlands, Norway, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, and United States of America.  WG21 has been monitoring the cross-language standards activities, and made use of the ISO/IEC JTC1/SC22 guidelines on extended characters.

Liaisons:

  SC22/WG14 - C
    Michael Wong (Codeplay, USA)
    Clark Nelson (Intel, USA)
    Tom Plum (Plum Hall, USA)


3. FOCUS NEXT WORK PERIOD

3.1. DELIVERABLES

WG21 is working on publishing JTC.22.14882 (IS C++) and progressing several other TS projects as noted in 1.2.2. Several are expected to progress to their next ballot stages, and in some cases to publication, in the next 12 months.

3.2. STRATEGIES

WG21 members have been meeting in parallel subgroups and coordinating work between meetings via e-mail reflectors, teleconferences, and wiki. WG21 is working on revisions to the central IS JTC1.22.14882 on a more regular three-year cadence. In addition, WG21 is parallelizing its work products by producing many work items first as Technical Specifications, which enables each independent work item to progress at its own speed and with less friction, and enables more experimental work to progress outside the main standard until it is more mature while still providing a reference for commercial implementations. When ready, these TS's can then be considered adopted (in whole or in part, and with changes) into the ISO C++ standard.

As of this writing, WG21 has 14 Study Groups, about half of them active, focusing on incubating proposals in specific areas, and which meet between WG21 face-to-face meetings via telecon and/or their own face-to-face meetings. These domain-specific groups have directly led to increased participation by leading experts in those domains who had not previously participated in WG21. For a current list of Study Groups, see http://isocpp.org/std/the-committee.


3.3. RISKS

None.

3.4. OPPORTUNITIES

Nothing new to report.

3.5. WORK PROGRAM PRIORITIES

WG21 intends to continue working on new language and/or library extensions with a view to publishing multiple TSes and then another new JTC1.22.14882 IS in 2017.


4. OTHER ITEMS

4.1. POSSIBLE ACTION REQUESTS AT FORTHCOMING PLENARY

None.

4.2 PROJECT EDITORS

The following individuals have been appointed project editors and backups.

Currently active projects:

  JTC1.22.14882, Programming Language C++:
    Richard Smith (editor)
    Jonathan Wakely (backup)

  JTC1.22.19216: Networking
    Jonathan Wakely (editor)

  JTC1.22.19568: Library Fundamentals
    Geoffrey Romer (editor)
    Jeffrey Yasskin (backup)

  JTC1.22.19570: Parallelism
    Jared Hoberock (editor)

  JTC1.22.19571: Concurrency
    Michael Wong (editor)

  JTC1.22.21425: Ranges
    Casey Carter (editor)

  JTC1.22.21544: Modules
    Gabriel Dos Reis (editor)

Complete projects:

  JTC1.22.14882:1998 and :2003, Programming Language C++:
    Andrew Koenig (editor)
    Tom Plum (backup)

  JTC1.22.14882:2011, Programming Language C++:
    Pete Becker (editor)
    Lawrence Crowl (backup)
    Tom Plum (former backup, until 2006)

  JTC1.22.14882:2014, Programming Language C++:
    Stefanus Du Toit (editor)
    Lawrence Crowl (backup)

  JTC1.22.18015, Technical Report on C++ Performance
    Lois Goldthwaite (editor)
    Detlef Vollmann (backup)
    Martin O'Riordan (former editor, until 2003)

  JTC1.22.18822: File System Library
    Beman Dawes (editor)
    Stefanus Du Toit (backup)

  JTC1.22.19217: Concepts
    Andrew Sutton (editor)

  JTC1.22.19768, Technical Report on C++ Library Extensions
    Matt Austern (editor)
    Pete Becker (backup)

  JTC1.22.24733, Technical Report on Extensions to Support Decimal Floating Point Arithmetic
    Robert Klarer (editor)
    Pete Becker (backup)

  JTC1.22.29124 Programming Language C++ - Special Math Functions
    Walter Brown (editor)
    Pete Becker (backup)

Cancelled projects:

  JTC1.22.19569: Arrays
    Lawrence Crowl (editor)

  JTC1.22.24737, Technical Report on C++ Library Extensions
    Matt Austern (editor)
    Pete Becker (backup)

4.3 ELECTRONIC DOCUMENT DISTRIBUTION

WG21 has conducted much of its detailed technical discussion using the email reflector provided by ACCU.org.

WG21 uses a secure wiki maintained by Edison Design Group. This secure wiki is used for quick exchange of documents during and between meetings.

WG21 is now providing all the appropriate committee documents electronically, eliminating the need for paper mailings. WG21 is now in the process of publishing new documents via LiveLink. In the past, WG21 also has an FTP and Web site at www.open-std.org/jtc1/sc22/wg21 provided by courtesy of Keld Simonsen, and at isocpp.org provided by courtesy of the Standard C++ Foundation.


4.4 RECENT MEETINGS

See http://isocpp.org/std/meetings-and-participation/upcoming-meetings for a list of recent and future meetings.