August 8, 2003
July 2002 – August 2003
Don Schricker
Convenor, ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 22/WG 4
4012 Nancy Margarite
Lane
Las Vegas, NV 89130
email:
Don.Schricker@microfocus.com
Development and maintenance of ISO/IEC standards related to programming language COBOL.
The revised ISO/IEC 1989 FDIS ballot, which closed 11 September 2002, was approved without a negative vote. This document has been published.
The revision provides major new features, including: cultural adaptability, large character set support, object orientation, exception handling, new data-types (bit, floating point, native binary), portable arithmetic, conditional compilation, user-defined functions, file sharing/record locking, and improved interoperability with other programming languages.
This TR has been approved for publication.
WG4 has submitted SC22 N 3591, a NWI proposal for the creation of a type 2 Technical Report for Native COBOL Syntax for XML Support.
WG4 has submitted SC22 N 3592, a NWI proposal for the creation of a type 2 Technical Report for Collection Classes.
None
WG4 cooperates closely with INCITS COBOL Technical Committee J4, to whom SC22 has delegated the technical development and maintenance of COBOL.
WG4 has liaisons with the following groups:
There is no apparent direct competition with any other standards development organization.
COBOL continues to be widely used for development and for enhancement and re-engineering of existing applications. Many factors drive the market for COBOL standardization:
Continued evolution of the international standard for COBOL is essential to provide the benefits of new technologies and new environments to COBOL users worldwide.
WG4 meets as needed, usually once a year, and works by electronic correspondence between meetings. Experts from five "P" member countries participate in meetings: Germany, Japan, The Netherlands, the UK, and the USA. Two experts from "O" member New Zealand participated in the most-recent meeting.
Detailed technical development is delegated to INCITS J4. J4 has 8 members participating in detailed technical development - - 5 COBOL vendor organizations and 3 user organizations.
WG4 relies on WG20 as a resource in the areas of cultural adaptability and character handling. WG4 has made use of TR 10176 for specification of extended letters in programming language identifiers and of DTR 14652 for specification of uppercase to lowercase folding for extended letters in identifiers.
WG4 will focus on the following:
If the NWI proposals are approved: A PDTR for collection classes and a PDTR for XML support.
WG4 relies on INCITS J4 to carry out the detailed technical work and to identify issues needing WG4 direction.
No risks are foreseen.
No opportunities have been identified beyond those noted in the Work Program Priorities.
WG4 has the following priorities:
This section includes items that are part of the Converner's report, but not part of the Business Plan.
Approve SC22 N 3591, a NWI proposal for the creation of a type 2 Technical Report for Native COBOL Syntax for XML Support.
Approve SC22 N 3592, a NWI proposal for the creation of a type 2 Technical Report for Collection Classes.
Technical Corrigendum and defect processing – Ann Bennett, U.S.
TR for XML – Don Schricker, U.S. convenor
TR for Collection Classes – Robert A. Karlin, U.S.
SC22 N 3591, NWI for a Type 2 Technical Report for Native COBOL Syntax for XML Support
Concurrent registration and |
December 2004 |
Second PDTR ballot start |
June 2005 |
DTR ballot start |
March 2006 |
Final text to ITTF |
August 2006 |
SC22 N 3592, NWI for a Type 2 Technical Report for Collection Classes
Concurrent registration and |
December 2004 |
Second PDTR ballot start |
June 2005 |
DTR ballot start |
March 2006 |
Final text to ITTF |
August 2006 |
10-13 September 2002, Nara, Japan
26-28 June 2003, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
7-10 June 2004, The Hague, The Netherlands (tentative location)
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