This report is in the same form as past "Business Plans." Other items are included in an additional Section 4.
July 2002-July 2003
Please note change of Mail Stop and Fax Number
Coordination of ISO standards for Programming Language Ada
The Technical Corrigendum was published 2001-06-01. WG9 has determined that the best strategy for updating the standard is to develop an Amendment with completion anticipated in 2005. SC22 approved the project subdivision in N3310. The work is currently underway.
WG9 has voted that this standard should be confirmed. SC22 endorsed the request in its 2001 plenary meeting.
WG9 has voted to withdraw this standard. SC22 endorsed the request in its 2001 plenary meeting..
WG9 voted in June 2003 to confirm this standard upon its reaching the five-year review point. SC22 is requested to endorse this action. (See 4.1.2.)
WG9 has requested that this standard be made freely available on an appropriate web site. The request was recently implemented.
WG9 voted in June 2003 to confirm this standard upon its reaching the five-year review point. SC22 is requested to endorse this action. (See 4.1.2.)
Work on the planned amendment to the Ada Language standard has begun.
Preliminary work is underway on one project -- a Technical Report providing user guidance on the Ravenscar profile, a programming idiom permitting the use of a low-overhead run-time system in Ada programs. An NP for this effort is anticipated during the summer of 2003. The strategy of WG9 is to transpose a report of the University of York as a Type 3 Technical Report. Because neither a PAS nor a fast-track process is provided for Technical Reports, WG9 plans to use the normal process in an accelerated fashion. The York report will be attached to the NP with a request for concurrent registration as a PDTR. PDTR and DTR balloting will follow in an expedited fashion.
This standard has been withdrawn.
This standard has been withdrawn.
This standard has been withdrawn.There was a brief flurry of activity when AFNOR proposed that the standard be transitioned to "stabilized" status. After conferring with the WG9 Convener, AFNOR withdrew the request and WG9 approved the following resolution at its June 2003 meeting:
Resolution 44-8:
ISO/IEC JTC1/SC22/WG9 directs its convener to report to SC22 as
follows: "At the request of SC22 and AFNOR, WG9 has reviewed
its recommendation regarding the status of ISO/IEC 12227. As a
result of this review, WG9 has decided to confirm its prior recommendation
and AFNOR has decided to withdraw its request for reinstatement
of the standard."
Withdrawal of this standard was endorsed by the 2000 SC22 Plenary and approved by JTC1. It is expected to be implemented in 2003.
There are two major professional societies in this area: the Ada-Europe and the Special Interest Group on Ada (SIGAda) of the Association for Computing Machinery. The semi-annual meetings of WG9 are scheduled to coincide with the major conferences organized by these two groups. Officials of both organizations are active participants in the work of WG9. Both groups have the status of Category C liaison with WG9.
There is one major vendor consortium, the Ada Resource Association (ARA). Informal liaison with ARA is maintained via the US TAG.
Although support for Ada has declined in the US defense sector, Ada remains the language of choice for major parts of the real-time, embedded systems community. Ada usage in other sectors of the marketplace seems to be stable. The locus of Ada usage is perceptibly shifting from North America to Europe. There is demand for minor improvements while retaining the stability of the existing language. This motivates WG9 to update the language standard by means of an Amendment rather than a Revision.
National body participation in WG9 is growing. There has been long-time participation from Canada, Germany, Japan, UK, and US. Recently, France, Italy and Switzerland have resumed participation. We are advised that Russia will commence participation via document review but not attendance.
Implementation of the Category C Liaisons with Ada-Europe and SIGAda has broadened the base of technical review and support for language standardization.
All new work item suggestions are screened by the requirement for active support from five national bodies. This has worked well, resulting in explicit commitments from national bodies supporting a possible project.
WG9 uses three Rapporteur Groups to perform the drafting of its technical documents. This allows WG9 itself to meet only twice per year--for approximately five hours at each meeting. When appropriate, WG9 delegates initial drafting to national bodies. The US contributed the draft of the recently approved Technical Corrigendum. We expect to repeat this strategy with the planned amendment to ISO/IEC 8652.
The following deliverables are anticipated during the next 12 months:
Routine, but efficient, processing will suffice to achieve our goals.
Unexpectedly heavy technical comment could delay any of the items described above. WG9 has mitigated this risk by providing mechanisms for full treatment of NB technical concerns at the RG and WG level. Although we observe all requirements of the directives, we view SC22 and JTC1 level balloting as approval of documents that have already been completed.
National body participation in WG9 is growing. The JTC1 approval of the resolution permitting SC22 O-members to participate in working groups has yielded one new member for WG9. Other members will be solicited.
None.
The Amendment described above is the most important item in WG9's current work programme. WG9 anticipates its completion during 2005.
This section lists other items that are not part of the "Business Plan" but are appropriate for the Convener's Report.
SC22 is requested to approve the New Work Item for the Guide to the Ravenscar Profile and to concurrently register the contributed draft as a PDTR. As this report is being written, it is unclear whether this approval will be sought by letter ballot or by SC22 plenary resolution.
SC22 is requested to recommend to JTC1 that the following standards be confirmed in their five-year review:
SC22 is requested to approve another three-year term for WG9's current convener, James Moore.