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Date: Wed, 1 Jul 92 12:04:34 CDT
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From: Jerrold L. Wagener <jwagener@trc.amoco.com>
To: x3j3@ncsa.uiuc.edu
Cc: SC22WG5@dkuug.dk
Subject: I'm back from the mountain .... 
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To X3J3 -

As mentioned at the Terre Haute meeting, this capsule summary is late (and 
therefore perhaps moot) because of my expedition to Mt Logan (Yukon, Canada) 
immediately following the meeting.  Even though it is not timely, this 
summary is submitted for the sake of completeness (after a brief account of 
the mountain).

Mt Logan, at 5940 meters (19,800'), is the highest peak in Canada and the 
second highest (after Denali - Mt McKinley, Alaska) in North America.  Its 
latitude (near the arctic circle), combined with its height, makes it, as 
with Denali, one of the world's challenging climbs.  It is a bigger mountain 
above its base than Denali (though not quite as high), and has more ice 
flowing off its flanks, in the form of glaciers, than any mountain in the 
world outside of Antarctica.  As it turns out, Logan is a somewhat more 
difficult mountain to climb than Denali.

Nevertheless, we had a fantastically successful expedition, putting all nine 
of our expedition members on the summit.  There were six expeditions to try 
Logan this year, and no other expedition managed to summit all their members, 
and in fact only two other expeditions managed to put anyone one the summit.  
In most cases it was various forms of high altitude sickness that prevented 
people from summiting, though bad weather was also a factor.  We were 
fortunate in that we kept all our expedition members healthy, except for an 
occasional headache or bout of diarrhea, and were in striking position when a 
beautiful summit day appeared (June 19).

We were on the mountain a total of 22 days, experienced temperatures down to 
almost 40 degrees below zero (Celsius or Fahrenheit - take your pick - it 
doesn't make any difference at that point), and were above 17,500' for ten 
days.  Crevasses were more of an obstacle on Logan than we experienced on 
Denali, and we had one crevasse fall with its attendant rescue operation.
We all lost weight (I lost 15 pounds), despite our 6000 calorie/day diet,
and so are working on getting our strength back.  I'm also nursing a couple 
of frostbitten fingers, but it's beginning to look like there won't be any 
permanent damage or loss.

So much for the mountain.  The principal objectives for the Terre Haute X3J3 
meeting were:
     - process all outstanding requests relating to F90 maintenance
     - respond to the X3H5 request for a F90 binding
     - establish a US position on the WG5 L12 document

With regard to the first of these objectives, there are now upwards of 50 
distinct items in the S20, about a dozen for which processing has not been 
completed.  Some of the unfinished ones were "late-comers" at the meeting, 
but a few turned out to be somewhat knotty problems and time ran out before 
their processing was completed.  Presumably these will be completed at the 
August meeting in Seattle.  (The workload for Terre Haute accumulated over 
the six-month period since the previous meeting; with only two months until 
the subsequent meeting perhaps that workload will be less.)

With regard to the X3H5 request, a recommendation was developed and is has 
been communicated to X3.  The recommendation is to accept the X3H5 proposal, 
which is to allow X3H5 to develop Fortran syntax for a syntax-style binding 
of the X3H5 functionality to Fortran 90.  This essentially delegates to X3H5 
the development of a standard extension to Fortran 90.  X3J3 will serve as 
"coordinating liaison" in this work, which means that X3J3 must officially 
review the binding and make corresponding recommendations to X3.  An X3J3 
subgroup will be formed to coordinate closely with X3H5 on this project.

This is precedent-setting action, departing from the current model (for 
example such as depicted in X3J3/92-0030), and has significant implications 
for the "collateral standards" issue in the L12 document.  Indeed, the main 
reason for the US "no" vote on the L12 document is to insure that the final 
L12 wording is consistent with this more lenient policy of "coordinated 
farming out" of some syntax development as well as the development of 
standard modules.  This particular issue may well be one of the more critical 
ones, if not the crux, of the upcoming WG5 meeting in Victoria. 

On other fronts, at Terre Haute X3J3 tended to favor an "I-style" revision in 
the 1995-96 timeframe, rather than official corrigenda/interpretations 
documents, which would replace the two (identical) ISO/ANSI standards with a 
single ISO standard; the sentiment in Terre Haute was that this interim 
revision would be limited to cci - corrections, clarifications, and 
interpretations - and would not include and extensions or other changes of 
substance.  In terms of electronic efficiency, an ad hoc subgroup was formed 
to explore the most effective ways of using electronic mail and repositories 
to minimize the paper burden and provide wider and more timely access to 
committee materials.

As I have not yet seen the minutes of the Terre Haute meeting, the above 
report is largely from my (now dim) recollections of the meeting plus a few 
notes that I managed to resurrect.  I'll let you know if any of the above 
turns out to be incorrect (or, probably sooner, others will set the record 
straight).  My sincere thanks to those that pitched in to make sure things 
were taken care of after the meeting, while I was on the mountain, especially 
to Maureen for completing the minutes, preparing the August agenda, conveying 
our X3H5-related recommendation to X3, and generally making sure that the 
critical things got done.  I look forward to seeing you all in a few weeks.

Jerry