These minutes contain background information and reports copied from the Final Agenda along with discussion that occurred at the meeting and the resolutions that were approved.
The announcement and preliminary agenda for this meeting were circulated as N365. The detailed agenda was circulated as N366.
The 37th meeting of ISO/IEC JTC1/SC22/WG9 was hosted by the national body of the United States, in conjunction with the 1999 SIGAda conference.
The meeting was called to order at 9:00 am.
Clyde Roby agreed to serve as meeting secretary.
Without objection, the agenda was approved.
The draft minutes of meeting #36 appear in document N363.
[Agenda]
National Body Representatives:
WG9 Officers (if not already listed):
Others:
Report, from John Barnes, 14 October 1999:
The BSI group has met once since the WG9 meeting in Santander. The group concentrated on reviewing the Corrigendum. The unanimous view was that the document was exceeedingly well prepared and together with the Defect Report was in fact in excess of what was required. There were some specific comments that will be brought up at the WG9 meeting.
Ada UK recently organized a one day event concerning high integrity software. The two main topics were the Ravenscar Profile and the HRG report. This event was well attended by industrial users. Both the Ravenscar profile and the HRG report were seen as fine pieces of work and of considerable practical benefit. It is good to see that the work of the HRG has borne fruit.
[Agenda]
Clyde Roby continues his fine work in maintaining WG9's web page at http://www.open-std.org/jtc1/sc22/wg9/
The Ada Conformity Assessment standard has progressed rapidly. The need for this standard became apparent in June 1998. By September 1998, a New Work Item proposal and an initial Working Draft were presented to SC22 for their endorsement. JTC1 approved the New Work Item in December 1998 and WG9 approved the Working Draft in January 1999. Within ten days, the edited draft and the disposition report were forwarded to SC22 for concurrent CD registration and FCD approval. At the June 1999 meeting, the FCD disposition of comments was approved and shortly thereafter, the document was sent to JTC1 for FDIS approval. FDIS ballot began in mid-August. The ballot will complete on October 19.
All considered, this may be the fastest moving standard in the history of JTC1.
The credit for moving this document so rapidly belongs to its editor, Erhard Ploedereder. In the preparation of the FDIS draft, we appreciate the painstaking proofreading provided by Kiyoshi Ishihata.
JTC1 has removed all obstacles to the open electronic publication of a Technical Corrigendum to the Ada language standard. JTC1 policy now allows all Technical Corrigenda to be made openly available on the Web.
However, the property rights to publish a Language Reference Manual merged with the corrigendum remain unclear. Possible mechanisms to address this problem will be discussed later in the meeting.
The Final Draft International Standard for ASIS was approved by JTC1 and was published in May. Our aggressive strategies for progressing this work have succeeded in accelerating completion of this standard by perhaps a full year. Our congratulations go to the ASIS Team, notably Currie Colket (chair of the ASIS RG), and Steve Blake and Clyde Roby (the project editors).
I am pleased to learn that three vendors now offer implementations of the standard.
It was noted that the ASIS RG was awarded the SIGAda Distinguished Service Award at the SIGAda conference two days prior.
The Preliminary Draft Technical Report of this document was approved by SC22 this past spring. The HRG, led by Alan Burns and project editor Brian Wichmann, prepared a Draft Technical Report for submission to ballot by JTC1. DTR ballot is underway and is expected to complete on October 19.
Several nations have ceased active participation in the work of WG9 during recent years. Jean-Pierre Rosen has reported that France may cease participation. By my count, this will leave us with five active participants: Canada, Germany, Japan, UK, USA. By the JTC1 directives, active participation by five nations is needed to pursue any new work item. Although this does not endanger the completion of our current work, nor the development of the Technical Corrigendum, it is clear that the prospects for future work, including language revision, is problematic.
Some nations have ceased participation in WG9 because of the expense required to participate in the parent body, SC22. I raised this issue at the recent plenary meeting of SC22. SC22 responded by making a recommendation to JTC1 that "O" (observing) members of SC22 should be permitted to act as "P" (participating) members of individual working groups. It is my hope that approval by JTC1 would result in two nations rejoining WG9.
The convener also mentioned that he had discussed with SIGAda the possibility of entering into a Category C liaison with WG9 in order to facilitate the participation of "true volunteers" in the work of WG9. He mentioned that a similar arrangement with Ada-Europe would be welcome.
[Agenda]
From convener: The schedule for meeting #38 was already adopted during the Santander meeting of WG9. The schedule for meeting #39 is proposed:
SIGAda did not, as expected, schedule a conference for Fall 2000. The question remains under study. Therefore, no decision was made regarding the venue of the Fall 2000 meeting. Alternatives were discussed. We could consider colocating with the ARG or possibly the HRG. The meeting could be in either Europe or US. One possibility is to colocate with the Real-time Ada Workshop in Madrid, week of 18 September 2000. Possibly the French will have a workshop in Brest in September. SC22 meets in Nara Sep 11-15; we must avoid that week.
[Agenda]
From Convener: This is the "To Do" list for WG9. Some are informal action items assigned to various participants. Some are formal resolutions which are not yet implemented. Some are suspense items awaiting action by other groups.
[Convener]: Suggest ways in which additional national bodies might be added to WG9. For example, determine if membership in SC22 is required. Determine if "C" liaisons count for the purposes of determining support. Determine how NBs like Russia could be included. Determine how to seek support from other nations. Discuss these problems with other WGs in SC22.
Status: CLOSED. In discussions with the SC22 Secretariat, the convener learned that P membership in SC22 is a prerequisite of P membership in WG9 and that C liaisons do not count toward meeting the five-nation rule for approving a New Work Item. Convener did successfully request an Ad Hoc discussion of SC22 conveners at the recent SC22 plenary meeting. As a result of the discussion, SC22 passed a resolution requesting that O members of SC22 should be permitted to be P members of any of the Working Groups of WG9.
ISO/IEC JTC1/SC22/WG9 recommends to SC22 that the following standards be withdrawn when they reach the end of their five-year life. Both standards are relevant to the 1987 version of the Ada language standard rather than the current version.
Status: OPEN. This resolution has been reported to SC22 and endorsed at their plenary meeting in August 1998. The SC22 Secretariat advises that routine processing by ISO Central Secretariat should result in withdrawing the standards before the end of 2000.
WG9 approves the Disposition of Comments for FCD 18009 contained in N361; the project editor is authorized to submit the document to the SC22 Secretariat. The draft of FDIS 18009 contained in N362 is approved; the project editor is authorized to submit the document to the SC22 Secretariat for FDIS balloting. WG9 approves progressing the project to the FDIS stage.
Status: CLOSED. The FDIS draft was submitted to the SC22 Secretariat who forwarded it to ITTF. The convener visited ITTF in Geneva to ensure that the draft was processed in a timely fashion. FDIS ballot was initiated and is expected to close on October 19.
WG9 approves the Disposition of Comments for PDTR 15942 contained in N360 ; the project editor is authorized to submit the document to the SC22 Secretariat. The draft of DTR 15942 contained in N359, with additional corrections as outlined in Brian Wichmann's email note of 20 May, is approved; the project editor is authorized to submit the document to the SC22 Secretariat for DTR balloting. WG9 approves progressing the project to the DTR stage.
Status: CLOSED. The DTR draft was submitted to the SC22 Secretariat who forwarded it to JTC1. DTR ballot was initiated and is expected to close on October 19.
ISO/IEC JTC1/SC22/WG9 recommends to SC22 that the following standard be withdrawn when it reaches the end of its five-year life. The standard is relevant to the 1987 version of the Ada language standard rather than the current version:
Status: OPEN. This resolution has been reported to SC22 and endorsed (Resolution 99-19) at their plenary meeting in September 1999. The SC22 Secretariat advises that routine processing by ISO Central Secretariat should result in withdrawing the standards before the end of 2001.
WG9 recognizes that the normal five-year period for initiating revision of ISO/IEC 8652 lapses during the year 2000. In the judgment of WG9, the interests of the Ada community are best served by developing a Technical Corrigendum document rather than by revising the standard. Accordingly, JTC1/SC22/WG9 requests the concurrence of SC22 and JTC1 in confirming the current standard, ISO/IEC 8652:1995, and in scheduling the next periodic review of that standard for the year 2005.
Status: CLOSED. The SC22 Secretariat advises the convener that no action is needed to schedule the next periodic review. Resolution 99-19 of the September 1999 SC22 plenary meeting "confirmed" the existing ISO/IEC 8652:1995.
A clarification was made. The Technical Corrigendum is not directly tied to the requirement to reconsider the Ada standard at the five-year point. A TC can be developed at any time.
WG9 resolves that the layout of the planned Technical Corrigendum to ISO/IEC 8652 will contain the specific wording changes to the standard on a sub-clause by sub-clause basis, cross-referenced to an accompanying Defect Report [Disposition] document. The latter will be a compendium of the respective AIs, basically in the style that was used for publishing the AIs in Ada Letters during 1998.
Status: OPEN. Normal processing of the Corrigendum is expected to implement this resolution.
WG9 adopts the following timetable for the production of the Technical Corrigendum to ISO/IEC 8652:
with status to be reported at WG9 meetings.
Status: OPEN. Normal processing of the Corrigendum is expected to implement this resolution.
Correct all uses of the term "Corrigenda" to be "Corrigendum."
The convener is directed to include the following resolution in his report at the SC22 plenary:
WG9 believes that it is in the best interests of the community if standards be made as freely available as possible. Standards ultimately benefit society as a whole through cheaper manufacturing and integration costs. Disincentives to use standards should be minimized wherever possible.
Whereas paper copies involve the originating organization in significant production and distribution costs to which it is appropriate that the recipient should contribute, electronic distribution is of a different nature since the costs of printing and distribution are borne by the recipient by the very nature of the mechanism.
WG9 concludes that approved standards should be published on the World Wide Web permitting access at no cost or a substantially reduced cost, perhaps subsidized by alternative funding models.
The convener might mention alternative models such as these:
The convener is directed to invite additional suggestions from WG9.
Status: CLOSED. As directed, the convener did invite additional suggestions. There were none. As directed, the convener included the resolution in his report to SC22. The SC22 chair advised the convener that it is not appropriate for WG9 (or SC22) to make suggestions with scope broader than their own work. He suggested a request specific to the work of WG9. Pursuing this thought, the convener met with representatives of ISO Central Secretariat. They indicated some interest in pursuing the first of the two alternatives models mentioned in the resolution as a trial using the Ada standard. The convener plans no further action until some party steps forward to affirm that they are interested in subsidizing web publication.
[Agenda]
[Agenda]
From Convener's Report, 1 July 1998, N345:
Project 22.10.02 -- IS 11430:1994 Generic Package of Elementary Functions for Ada, Ken Dritz, editor
Project 22.10.03 -- IS 11729:1994 Generic Package of Primitive Functions for Ada, Ken Dritz, editor
The contents of 11430 and 11729 are substantively subsumed by the subsequent approval of the 1995 revision of 8652. WG9 has requested that these standards be withdrawn at the conclusion of their five-year review period.
From Plenary Meeting Report of ISO/IEC JTC1/SC22, 24-28 August 1998, N351:
Resolution 98-Q: Standards for Periodic Review -- ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC22 ... recommends that the following standards be withdrawn:
From Ken Dritz, 8 October 1999: Have heard nothing about ISO 11430, ISO 11729. No action.
[Agenda]
From Convener's Report, 1 July 1998, N345:
Project 22.35 -- (Type 2) TR 11735:1996 EXTensions for real-time Ada, Nasser Kettani, Editor
The contents of 11735 are substantively subsumed by the 1995 revision of 8652. This Technical Report will be withdrawn when usage of the 1987 version of the Ada language has diminished.
It is anticipated that WG9 will recommend withdrawal of this TR at the five-year time for considering its future.
[Agenda]
Project 22.31 -- IS 12227:1995 SQL/Ada Module Description Language (SAMeDL), Andreas Koeller, editor.
Resolution 36-3, N363:
ISO/IEC JTC1/SC22/WG9 recommends to SC22 that the following standard be withdrawn when it reaches the end of its five-year life. The standard is relevant to the 1987 version of the Ada language standard rather than the current version:
From Convener's Report, 28 June 1999, N364:
Because this standard is premised upon the 1987 version of Ada, because of low market acceptance, and because of technological evolution, WG9 recommends withdrawal of this standard at the expiration of its five-year review period.
Resolution 99-19, SC22 N3013:
ISO/IEC JTC1/SC22 à recommends that the following standard be withdrawn:
[Agenda]
Project 22.10.04 -- IS 13813:1998 Generic packages of real and complex type declarations and basic operations for Ada (including vector and matrix types), Don Sando and Ken Dritz, editors
The editors have reported no activity.
[Agenda]
Project 22.10.05 -- IS 13814:1998 Generic package of complex elementary functions for Ada, Jon Squire and Ken Dritz, editors
The editors have reported no activity.
[Agenda]
ISO/IEC 8652:1995 Information Technology--Programming Languages--Ada
Project 22.10.01, Randy Brukardt and Erhard Ploedereder, Project Editors
[Agenda]
Resolution 36-4, N363:
àIn the judgment of WG9, the interests of the Ada community are best served by developing a Technical Corrigendum document rather than by revising the standardà
Resolution 36-5, N363:
WG9 resolves that the layout of the planned Technical Corrigendum to ISO/IEC 8652 will contain the specific wording changes to the standard on a section by section basis, cross-referenced to an accompanying Defect Reports document. The latter will be a compendium of the respective AIs, basically in the style that was used for publishing the AIs in Ada Letters during 1998.
Resolution 36-6, N363:
WG9 adopts the following timetable for the production of the Technical Corrigendum to ISO/IEC 8652:
From SC22 Secretariat, 27 April 1999 [regarding procedures for progressing the CORR]:
You don't need an NP and, unless you are changing project editors, you don't need anything other blessing from SC22 or JTC 1. Having notified me and assuming that the project editors for the Technical Corrigendum will be the same as for the revised 8652 (i.e., Ploedereder and Brukardt), WG9 can proceed to develop it. If you are changing project editors, SC22 will have to approve the new one(s). Otherwise, there is nothing here [that] requires SC22 approval until the Technical Corrigendum is ready for ballot. It will be developed as part of Project JTC 1.22.10.01.
From Erhard Ploedereder, 11 October 1999:
Comments on the Draft Technical Corrigendum and Defect Reports
The draft corrigendum and defect reports have been discussed at an ARG meeting, September 26-30, in Westborough, MA. The latest versions in various formats can be downloaded from
http://www.ada-auth.org/~acats/grab-bag.html
Note that the .RTF version is formatted on US paper with realistic margins. Word of warning: If viewing the HTML versions of these documents, make sure that the default font is some Roman font (i.e. Times Roman, etc.).Otherwise, you won't be able to see the Helvetica font used on the syntax names.
At this time, WG9 should decide on the format and general content of these documents. Comments on individual issues are welcome, but not specifically requested. (The ARG review of the TC has not yet covered the Defect Reports on Annexes.)
Decision on official submission of defect reports
None of the defect reports has been submitted through official channels. I recommend to HODs to ratify the existing defect reports as officially submitted. These defect reports cover primarily (only?) AIs that were classified as Binding Interpretations. It might be worthy of discussion whether Ramifications and Clarifications should also be included.
Detailed plan:
By its March 2000 meeting, the ARG should complete its review of the Technical Corrigendum by considering the issues related to the annexes. However, it is probable that there will still be outstanding Ada Issues that will not be resolved for incorporation into the TC. It is therefore possible that there may be a second TC in the future. Furthermore, some issues may not be suitable for resolution by a TC. For example, an extension of the language such as "with type" might have to be performed by Amendment or Revision rather than a TC.
The actual preparation of the TC and related material will be performed under a contract to The MITRE Corporation. MITRE will contract for the documents on a "work for hire" basis and will copyright the results. The copyright notice will provide appropriate permissions to ensure that the documents can be widely distributed. The completed documents will be turned over to the USNB for contribution to WG9. The USNB will ensure that review occurs during document preparation so that the completed documents are ready for approval by WG9 and SC22.
The Defect Reports and the TC will include a discussion of "paragraph numbers" so that users of the standard will know to simply count the paragraphs within the subclauses.
The proposed draft resolution was discussed and modifications were made. The result was adopted unanimously.
[Agenda]
Project 22.18009, FDIS 18009, Information Technology -- Programming Languages -- Ada: Conformity Assessment of a Language Processor, Erhard Ploedereder, Project Editor
Resolution 36-1, N363:
WG9 approves the Disposition of Comments for FCD 18009 contained in N361; the project editor is authorized to submit the document to the SC22 Secretariat. The draft of FDIS 18009 contained in N362 is approved; the project editor is authorized to submit the document to the SC22 Secretariat for FDIS balloting. WG9 approves progressing the project to the FDIS stage.
From SC22 Programme of Work, Updated 30 September 1999:
FDIS 18009 has been submitted for JTC1 Letter Ballot closing 19 October 1999
|
Name |
CD submitted for ballot |
FDIS submitted for ballot |
IS submitted for publication |
|
|
18009 |
Conformity Assessment |
1/99 Actual |
6/99 Actual |
10/99 Planned |
[Agenda]
Project 22.15291-- IS 15291: 1999, Information Technology--Programming Languages--Ada Semantic Interface Specification (ASIS), Clyde Roby and Steve Blake, editors
[See Appendix A]
The ASIS RG was awarded the SIGAda Distinguished Service Award at the conference.
[Agenda]
Project 22.15942 -- DTR 15942, Guidance for the use of the Ada Programming Language in High Integrity Systems, Brian Wichmann, Editor
Resolution 36-2, N363:
WG9 approves the Disposition of Comments for PDTR 15942 contained in N360 ; the project editor is authorized to submit the document to the SC22 Secretariat. The draft of DTR 15942 contained in N359, with additional corrections as outlined in Brian Wichmann's email note of 20 May, is approved; the project editor is authorized to submit the document to the SC22 Secretariat for DTR balloting. WG9 approves progressing the project to the DTR stage.
From SC22 Programme of Work, Updated 30 September 1999:
DTR 15942 has been submitted for JTC1 Letter Ballot ending 19 October 1999.
|
Project |
Name |
PDTR submitted for ballot |
DTR submitted for ballot |
IS submitted for publication |
|
15942 |
Ada in high integrity systems |
11/98 Actual |
6/99 Actual |
12/2000 Planned |
From Alan Burns, 11 October 1999: We still await the outcome of the final ISO voting round on our report. Until that work item is completely closed we have decided not to initiate any new activity. This is likely to change over the next few months.
[Agenda]
From Ted Baker, 12 October 1999:
Much of the core work on POSIX is making a transition from the old three-headed system (IEEE, WG15, The Open Group) to a new more closely coordinated development group with representatives from all three organizations, known as the Austin Group. This group will be handling the revision of the core (C-language interface) standards.
The Ada binding work is presently only being done in the IEEE. The POSIX.5c (Ada binding for sockets and XTI) standard passed IEEE ballot nearly a year ago, but was held up in final editing for some time after it passed the IEEE Standards Board. The original editor ran out of funding in the home stretch. I took on the final editing and completed it this summer. The document is now in the hands of the IEEE editor. Once the IEEE has the final camera-ready version, it will go to JTC1 for fast-track balloting as an ISO/IEC standard.
The other active Ada binding activities are in the POSIX.21 Working group and in the SAE AS5 subcommittee, which is proposing additional real-time services and profiles for POSIX. The POSIX.21 WG has projects 1003.5f, 1003.5g, and 1003.5h, which are still in draft. For information on the POSIX.21 work, contact bcm@sei.cmu.edu. For information on the SAE AS5 work, contact dbschleicher@west.raytheon.com.
The POSIX.24 (Ada Binding to X Window Modular Toolkit) project seems to have died. As I have heard nothing from the project chair I plan to request withdrawal of the project authorization.
[Agenda]
No unfinished business was tabled.
[Agenda]
No new business was tabled.
[Agenda]
All resolutions were approved unanimously.
The minutes of Meeting #36 as contained in document N363 are approved.
[Discussion] [Agenda]
ISO/IEC JTC1/SC22/WG9 continues the following Rapporteur Groups until the next plenary meeting and expresses its grateful appreciation to their chairs for their continuing service:
For the rapid preparation of project 22.18009 for FDIS ballot, WG9 extends its grateful appreciation and congratulations to its editor, Erhard Ploedereder, and to Kiyoshi Ishihata.
[Discussion] [Agenda]
WG9 expresses its gratitude to SIGAda and to the National Body of the United States for their gracious accommodations in hosting Meeting #37.
[Discussion] [Agenda]
ISO/IEC JTC1/SC22/WG9 expresses its grateful appreciation to Clyde Roby for serving as secretary of Meeting #37.
[Discussion] [Agenda]
ISO/IEC JTC1/SC22/WG9 expresses its grateful appreciation to Clyde Roby for maintaining the WG9 Web Page.
[Discussion] [Agenda]
ISO/IEC JTC1/SC22/WG9 accepts the offer of the US National Body to be responsible for the preparation of Defect Reports, Defect Report Responses, a Technical Corrigendum and related supplementary material for ISO/IEC 8652. The terms of reference for producing the documents are: (1) The scope of the effort shall be limited to AIs approved by WG9; (2) The US shall invite review and comments from WG9 participants, the project editors of ISO/IEC 8652, and other concerned parties; (3) Preliminary results shall be shared with WG9 participants by May 15, 2000; and (4) Final results shall be contributed to WG9 by August 15, 2000.
[Discussion] [Agenda]
ISO/IEC JTC1/SC22/WG9 extends its best wishes to Currie Colket and its hopes for a speedy recovery from his recent surgery.
The meeting adjourned at approximately 12:15 PM.
[Agenda]
[Agenda]
This report covers the ASIS activities since the last ISO/IEC JTC1/SC22 WG9 meeting on 12 June 1999 in Santander, Spain.
On 28 April 1999, ASIS was published as an ISO standard with the following designation:
ISO/IEC 15291:1999 Information technology - Programming languages - Ada Semantic Interface Specification (ASIS)
ACT's ASIS for GNAT and AONIX have been the 2 primary vendors supporting the ASIS Standard. DDC-I and Rational had supported a very early version of ASIS for Ada95, but these implementations were incompatible with the ASIS Standard. Rational has recently announced that they are now fully compliant with the ASIS Standard. We are expecting DDC-I to be compliant as well in the late 2000 time frame.
DCS has developed a new product based on ASIS called AdaSTAT. AdaSTAT 1) flags violations of safety-critical language restrictions, and 2) computes both functional (McCabe, Halstead, etc.) and Object-oriented metrics (including displaying the tagged type inheritance tree). DCS announced this product at a reception last Monday.
Please check out the ASIS Home Page. There is much that has been updated. There has been much added to the tutorial section. Please also follow the thanking the many volunteer people and organizations who helped make ASIS a reality. The ASIS Home Page is at => http://www.acm.org/sigada/wg/asiswg
[Agenda]
End of Document