Programmer's ROM - The Computer Language Library/programmersrom.iso/ada/point/iso.inf

Text File | 1988-05-03 | 8.6 KB | 173 lines

This file contains update and status
reports on the international Standards
Organization.
(Ada IC point of contact: Greg Kee)


October 8, 1986


              INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS ORGANIZATION

     Interest   in    recommending    Ada*    for   International
Standardization  arose as  early as  l979,  four years before Ada
became   an   ANSI Standard.   In response to this interest,  the
U.S.   member body  to the  International  Standards Organization
(ISO)  prepared Ada as  a new   work  item   to the ISO Technical
Committee 97 (ISO/TC 97) in  September  l980 using  the  July  l,
l980   edition  of   the   Ada   Programming   Language Reference
Manual as  the proposed  standard  document.    Due to procedural
difficulties encountered by the U.S.   member body, the submittor
of the proposed   new work item,   the letter ballot sent  out in
September    l980   remained    open   until   May   l98l.    The
responses   received   were   all  supportive,   with  additional
comments submitted by a few of the member body  countries.   This
ballot qualified Ada as  a new   work   item  and assigned Ada to
ISO/TC 97/SC 5.

     Along with its ballot,  the U.S.  had proposed the formation
of an Ada   Experts Group and offered to  host  its first meeting
on   September 24-25,   l98l,   in Washington,  D.C.  The DoD had
asked  ANSI  to  petition ISO  to authorize them to  convene this
Experts Group meeting so that the  international  community could
be given  a  voice  in  the  consideration   of  language  issues
during   the   domestic ANSI processing  of  Ada  as  a voluntary
U.S.   ANSI Standard.    Dr.  Larry Druffel,  Director of the Ada
Joint   Program  Office,  was named convenor of this Ada  Experts
Group  meeting.   The meeting was held as  scheduled and language
issues  as  well  as   the   various   Ada-related  international
activities were  discussed.   At the close  of  the  meeting, Dr.
Druffel reminded the group that he had no  current authority from
SC5  to schedule further meetings,  but indicated that  he  would
reconvene   this group after  the report   of  the  first meeting
was   presented to SC5  and SC5  then gave him  an  official  ISO
designation.    He   suggested that  May or  June  l982  would be
appropriate since   it was anticipated that an editorial draft of
the  ANSI  Standard document would be available at that time.

     Unfortunately,    the    results   of  parallel   activities
conducted during   l98l  precluded  a second meeting of this  Ada
Experts    Group.    Although     willing    to    support   work
towards    the    international  standardization   of  Ada,  some
member countries had concerns about   and requested clarification
of  the implications of the DoD requirements  for  a  trademarked
Ada    and    DoD    validated    compilers.      Correspondence,
discussions,    and    clarifications    on   the  Ada  trademark
requirements  continued from  l98l  into l983.   In December l983
this  issue was finally resolved  to ISO's  satisfaction when the
Director  of  AJPO,   Dr.  Mathis,  reported that the  U.S.  DoD,
owner  of  the  trademarked  term  'Ada*',  had  agreed  to allow
international standardization of Ada to  proceed under  that name
and to the assignment of Ada as  a name to their  final standard.
On  January l3,   l984,   ISO/TC 97  approved   confirmation   of
Project 97.5.l4,  work  toward  international  standardization of
Ada.

     The   original Ada Experts  Group  was  expanded  and became
ISO/TC 97/SC 5/WG  14,   Working Group l4  on Ada.   Dr.  Mathis,
the   convenor,  scheduled  the first  meeting  for  April l0-ll,
l984,   in  Paris,   France.  Seven additional meetings have been
held  since then:   June  25,  l984,  in  Brussels;  November 27,
l984,   in Washington, D.C.; February  26,  l985,  in  San  Jose,
California;   May 13, 1985  in Paris, France; November  18,  1985
in Boston,  Massachusetts;  February  24,  1986  in  Los Angeles,
California;  and May 9,  1986  in Edinburgh,  Scotland.  The next
meeting is planned for November  17-18,  1986 in Charleston, West
Virginia.

     During this  time, the  Ada  Programming  Language Reference
Manual,  ANSI/MIL-STD-l8l5A-l983   was   registered   with ISO as
document  ISO/TC 97/SC 5 N759.   On July 24,  l984,  SC5 sent out
letter  ballots  to    all  member    bodies   to   vote  on  the
registration  of  N759   as    an   ISO   Draft  Proposal   (DP).
Document   N759   was approved  unanimously  by  member countries
to be registered as a DP,   as announced by SC5 on  September l8,
l984.  Document N759 became ISO Draft Proposal 8652 (DP8652).

     In  the  meantime,   ISO/TC97  was  undergoing  an  internal
structural   change.     The    Subcommittee    which   had  been
responsible  for  the  Ada Project,   SC5,  was  subdivided  into
two    groups;    SC2l-Information   Retrieval,    Transfer   and
Management    of    OSI   and   SC22-Programming   Languages  and
Applications  Environments.    Ada  was assigned to SC22  and was
renumbered  as ISO/TC  97/SC   22/WG   9.     In  addition,   the
Secretariat function   for  SC22  was assumed by Canada,  whereas
ANSI,  USA,  had provided that function for SC5.

     On   January   l5,   l985,   the new SC22  Secretariat,  Mr.
Cote,  circulated    a   letter  ballot  to  SC22  member  bodies
to   vote    on registration   of DP8652 as a Draft International
Standard   (DIS).    The closing  date for ballots  was April l5,
l985.     The  ballot  approved  Ada  as  a  Draft  International
Standard.     ISO/DIS  8652   Programming  Language-Ada  will  be
circulated for  TC97  member body vote during the second  week of
January 1986.  The ballot will remain open for six (6) months.

     The    main   goal  of  WG9  has  been  to  propose  an  Ada
Programming   Language Reference Manual to the ISO  community and
assist it  through  the  process  of  becoming  the International
Standard for Ada.   Since becoming an ANSI Standard in 1983,  the
Ada  Programming   Language Reference Manual has been  (and still
is)  widely  commented  upon.    These  comments   have  all been
forwarded to the WG9,   which has reviewed   them and  found none
so major as  to  require a rewrite of  the manual  at  this time.
In its Brussels  meeting,  WG  9  passed the following resolution
concerning the rewrite of the Ada  Programming Language Reference
manual:

  ISO/TC    97/SC    5/WG   l4   assigns   high
  priority     to    resolving     issues    of
  interpretation   of  the    existing  Working
  Document by the end of   l986.   Furthermore,
  it    agrees    to   defer  consideration  of
  proposals   for   major  changes  until after
  that  time.   Meanwhile, it agrees to liaison
  with  other Ada  related  activities  for the
  purpose     of     identifying      potential
  improvements to the language.

     In   order   to   provide  a  mechanism  whereby   it  could
review   all incoming   comments  in  a  consistent  manner,  WG9
established  a   Language Maintenance  Committee:  (Resolution 6,
Brussels)

  ISO/TC   97/SC  5/WG  l4  agrees  that  there
  should    be     a   single    Ada   Language
  Maintenance   Committee,  which shall   serve
  and     coordinate    the    interests     of
  international     and   domestic    standards
  maintenance.   The   committee  shall  accept
  comments   from  all   sources  and   provide
  technical input to  the   maintenance  of the
  Ada programming language.    WG  l4 instructs
  its convenor  to coordinate the establishment
  of such  a committee.

Comments  resolved  in this Committee pass to the WG 9.

     On November 8, 1985, Ms. Virginia L. Castor, newly appointed
Director of the AJPO, was unanimously elected the Convenor of WG9
by the member bodies of SC22 at the first SC22 Plenary in Paris.

      At  the February  24,  1986 meeting in Los Angeles (Meeting
No.7),   WG  9   passed  the   following   resolution  concerning
language commentaries:

   WG 9  reaffirms its desire to  meet with the
   Ada Board to jointly discuss language issues
   to the largest extent  possible and requests
   its Convenor to formally communicate this to
   the Chairperson of the Ada Board.

   Also  during   this  meeting,   WG  9  passed the following
resolution regarding Ada math libraries:

   WG  9  resolves to  establish a  subgroup to
   investigate math libraries in Ada.



*Ada is  a registered  trademark of  the  U.S.  Government  (Ada Joint
Program Office)