Subject: WG11/N374 - WG11 Convener report to SC22

From: Willem Wakker <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 06 Sep 93 12:39:25 N

WG11 Convenor report to SC22, September 1993  SC22/WG11/N374

1.  Meetings

The following meetings of SC22/WG11 have been held since the last report:

21-23 August 1992    Tampere (Finland)
12-16 October 1992   Paris (France)
26-30 April 1993     Cambridge (MA, U.S.A.)
19-23 July 1993      Amsterdam (Netherlands)

The tight meeting schedule of WG11 over the last year has served its
purpose:

   - The final text of TR 10182 - Guidelines for Language Bindings
     (SC22/N1365) has been approved and is now in the hands of ITTF for
     final publication.

   - The (only) NO vote on the second CD 10967-1 - Language Independent
     Arithmetic, part 1: Integer and Floating Point Arithmetic (SC22/N1263)
     was resolved during the April 1993 meeting, the text for the DIS was
     approved in July 1993, and the DIS processing of this document has
     started.

   - The two NO votes on the second CD 11404 - Language Independent
     Datatypes (SC22/N1305) have been resolved during the July 1993
     meeting, and the editors instructions for the DIS were approved.  It
     is hoped that the DIS processing of this document can start by early
     October 1993.

   - During the first CD ballot on Language Independent Procedure Calling
     (SC22/N1289), this document was approved with comments.  Great efforts
     were undertaken to align this document as much as possible with the
     SC21 document on Remote Procedure Calling (CD 11578): co-located
     meetings with the SC21 RPC group were held in October 1992 and
     April 1993.  During the July 1993 meeting, the final editors
     instructions to produce the text for the first CD were approved.  It
     is hoped that the document to be registered as CD will be available by
     early November 1993.

The following meeting is planned:

21-25 March 1994   London

It is hoped that by March 1994 DIS ballots on LIA-1 and LID, and the CD
ballot on LIPC will be finished.

Note: due to a regrettable omission of the convener, the minutes of the
April 1993 meeting have not been sent timely to the SC22 secretariat for
distribution to SC22.

2.  WG11 Participation

In the previous WG11 convener report to SC22 it was noted that the
participation in WG11, and the attendance to WG11 meetings was decreasing.
Since then the situation has deteriorated: at this moment the editors of
the LID and LIPC documents have no support to attend meetings anymore.
They have offered to prepare (as `off-line' editors) their documents for
the next ballot round (as indicated above) but at a lower priority (and
hence with delays) than was originally planned.  Continuation of support
for the next phases is uncertain, and will almost certainly not be
implemented with the necessary efficiency and speed.

There are currently four Member Bodies active in WG11: U.S., U.K.,
Australia and the Netherlands.	The number of active participants at
meetings has fallen to a maximum of six (3 from the U.S., and 1 from each
other country).  SC22 Member Bodies are urgently requested to review their
support for the WG11 activities.

3.  Work Item JTC1.22.14 - Language Bindings Guidelines

The document is finalized, and is in its final publication phase with ITTF.

4.  Work Item JTC1.22.16 - Common Procedure Calling Mechanism

Working draft 6 of this document (SC22/N1289) was approved by SC22 for CD
registration.  The updated version for registration will be available in
November 1993.

During the October 1992 and April 1993 meetings much work was done on the
alignment of the draft with the emerging RPC drafts.

5.  Work Item JTC1.22.17 - Common Language-Independent Datatypes

The 2 NO votes on the 2nd CD (SC22/N1305) were resolved in Amsterdam in
July 1993.  A revised version will be sent to ITTF for DIS processing in
October 1993.

6.  Work Item JTC1.22.28 - Language Compatible Arithmetic Standard

On the second CD ballot of CD 10967-1.2 - Language Independent Arithmetic
Part 1: Integer and Floating Point Arithmetic (SC22/N1263) one NO vote was
registered.  This NO vote was resolved during the April 1993 meeting, and
an updated version of CD 10967-1 was sent in August 1993 to ITTF for DIS
processing.

7.  Work Item JTC1.22.33 - Language Compatible Mathematical Procedure
    Standard

This standard will be published as CD10967-2.  The first draft is expected
by October 1993.  The delay is due to the delay of part 1.

8.  Work Item JTC1.22.34 - Language Compatible Complex Arithmetic and
    Procedure Standard

This standard will be published as CD10967-3.  The first draft is expected
by spring 1994.  The delay is due to the delay of part 1.

9.  Language Independent Service Specifications

A NWI proposal for a TR, titled `Guidelines for the Preparation of Language
Independent Service Specifications', has been in ballot in SC22
(SC22/N1376, closing date 1993/08/31).	The results are not yet known.	It
is the intention of WG11 (when the NWI is approved) to develop this TR as a
companion document to TR 10182, based on the IEEE TCOS Language Independent
Specification Methods document (SC22/N1251).  IEEE has granted permission
to use this document.

During the July 1993 meeting of WG11, some issues around the documentation
structure of LI Specifications and language bindings were discussed.  It
was recognized that when a LI Service Specification is based on LID and
LIPC, and when `generic' language bindings from a language to LID and LIPC
exist, there possibly a need exist for `very thin' language bindings to
that service (example: the very thin POSIX bindings, WG11/N368).  However,
at this moment neither the POSIX LIS specification, nor the corresponding
C binding are written in this fashion.

10.  Liaisons

Liaisons exist with the following SC22 WGs: WG2 - Pascal, WG3 - APL, WG4 -
COBOL, WG9 - Ada, and WG15 - POSIX.  Also, liaison representatives from
SC24 (Graphics) and SC26 (Micro Processors) to WG11 have been appointed.

Informal liaisons also exists with SC22/WG13 - Modula-2, SC22/WG17 -
Prolog, SC2 - Characters,  SC21/WG8 - RPC, and ECMA TC33 - PCTE.

11.  SC22/WG11 Milestones

Work Item 22.14 - Language Bindings Guidelines
Milestones:   5.3   93-06   TR published

Work Item 22.16 - Language-Independent Procedure Calling
Milestones:   2.8   93-10   WD approved for registration as CD

Work Item 22.17 - Language-Independent Datatypes
Milestones:   2.8   91-01   WD approved for registration as CD
	      3.0   91-05   CD registered
	      3.1   91-05   CD study initiated
	      3.8   93-10   CD approved for registration as DIS

Work Item 22.28 - Language-Independent Arithmetic, Part 1
Milestones:   3.8   93-04   CD approved for registration as DIS

Work Item 22.33 - Language-Independent Arithmetic, Part 2
Milestones:   2.1   91-09   WD study initiated
		    93-10   First draft circulated
	      2.8   94-08   WD draft for CD registration

Work Item 22.34 - Language-Independent Arithmetic, Part 3
Milestones:   2.1   91-09   WD study initiated
		    94-11   First draft circulated
	      2.8   95-04   WD draft for CD registration

12.  Contact points

Drs. Willem Wakker
	  ACE Associated Computer Experts bv
	  Van Eeghenstraat 100
	  1071 GL AMSTERDAM
	  Nederland
Phone:	  +31	20 6657037
Fax:	  +31	20 6750389
Email:	  [email-masked]
Remark:   Convener SC22/WG11

Mr. Edward Barkmeyer
	  National Institute of Standards and Technology
	  Building 225, Mail Stop B-266
	  Gaithersburg MD 20899
	  U.S.A.
Phone:	  +1	301 9753528
Fax:	  +1	301 258 9749
Email:	  [email-masked]
Remark:   Project Editor Language Independent Datatypes

Mr. Ken Edwards
	  IBM Corporation
	  55 Bailey Ave., POB 49023
	  San Jose CA 95161
	  U.S.A.
Phone:	  +1	408 4633095
Fax:	  +1	408 4633114
Email:	  [email-masked]
Remark:   Project Editor Language Independent Procedure Calling

Mr. Craig Schaffert
	  DEC, Cambridge Research Lab
	  One Kendall Square, Bldg 700
	  Cambridge MA 02139
	  U.S.A.
Phone:	  +1	617 621 6617
Fax:	  +1	617 621 6650
Email:	  [email-masked]
Remark:   Project Editor Language Independent Arithmetic

Ms. Mary Payne
	  Digital Equipment Corporation
	  129 Parker Street
	  Maynard MA 01754
	  U.S.A.
Phone:	  +1	508 493 2586
Fax:	  +1	508 493 3608
Email:	  [email-masked]
Remark:   Project Editor Language Independent Arithmetic

Mr. Tom Turba
	  Unisys Corporation
	  P.O. Box 64942
	  St. Paul MN 55164-0942
	  U.S.A.
Phone:	  +1	612 635 6774
Fax:	  +1	612 635 3899
Email:	  [email-masked]
Remark:   Liaison with SC22/WG2 - Pascal

Dr. Eke Batenburg
	  RUL, Instituut voor Theoretische Biologie
	  Kaiserstraat 63
	  2311 GP LEIDEN
	  Nederland
Phone:	  +31	71 274900
Fax:	  +31	71 274972
Email:	  [email-masked]
Remark:   Liaison with SC22/WG3 - APL

Mr. Donald Nelson
	  Tandem Computers Inc.
	  5425 Stevens Creek Blvd.
	  Santa Clara CA 95051-7200
	  U.S.A.
Phone:	  +1	408 285 5203
Fax:	  +1	408 285 5245
Remark:   Liaison with SC22/WG4 - COBOL

Mr. Bill Carlson
	  Intermetrics Inc.
	  733 Concord Ave.
	  Cambridge MA 02138
	  U.S.A.
Phone:	  +1	617 661 1840
Fax:	  +1	617 868 2843
Email:	  [email-masked]
Remark:   Liaison with SC22/WG9 - ADA

Mr. Paul Rabin
	  Open Software Foundation
	  11 Cambridge Center
	  Cambridge MA 02142
	  U.S.A.
Phone:	  +1	617 621 8873
Fax:	  +1	617 621 0584
Remark:   Liaison with SC22/WG15 - POSIX

Mr. Christof Blum
	  Fraunhofer-Computer Graphics Research Group
	  Wilhelminenstr. 7
	  W-6100 DARMSTADT
	  Germany
Phone:	  +49	6151 155 145
Fax:	  +49	6151 155 194
Remark:   Liaison with SC24 - Computer Graphics

Dr. Richard Karpinski
	  University of California San Francisco
	  U-76
	  San Francisco CA 94143-0704
	  U.S.A.
Phone:	  +1	415 476 4529
Remark:   Liaison with SC26 - Micro Processors