ISO/ IEC JTC1/SC22/WG14 N805

           X3 Subgroup Annual Report 1998 --- WG14 N805  J11/98-004        1



                                                    WG14 N805
                                                    J11/98-004


                    X3 Subgroup Annual Report

                    March 1997 to February 1998

                    TC J11 (C Language)

            Tracking I project and Defect Reports

    1. Executive Summary

    J11 assisted SC22/WG14 with the on-going processing of Defect
    Reports and the ISO C revision project known informally as C9X.

    2. Projects

    Project 381-RI

    [a.]  Project Number and Title: 381-RI Programming Language C
    (Revision of ANSI/ISO/IEC 9899:1990).  [authorized by
    X3/95-0058R]

    [b.]  Target Date: December, 1998.

    [c.]  Project Description: Assist SC22/WG14 in development of
    the revision.  The project involves the following: folding
    amendment 1 and technical corrigenda into the standard proper;
    the addition of new features to support on-going user
    requirements and developments in technology; new
    internationalization requirements; and requirements imposed by
    other cross-language standards (such as language-independent
    arithmetic).

    [d.]  Publications During Past Year: CD for Registration and CD
    for first ballot.

    [e.]  Statement of Progress:

    Almost all defect reports have been resolved and folded into the
    revision.  Those remaining will be considered at the Feb and Jun
    1998 meetings.

    Most of our time was spent debating proposals for the revision.

    We continue to supply the redactors for the revision project and
    the rationale document.

    The first CD ballot began late Dec 1997. We plan to spend the Feb
    1998 and Jun 1998 meetings processing public comments and then
    issuing the second CD (planned to be our final one) after the
           X3 Subgroup Annual Report 1998 --- WG14 N805  J11/98-004        2



    June meeting.

    Over the year, excellent progress was made.  Interest was high
    and membership was steady. We are on schedule w.r.t our original
    charter.

    3. Committee Activities

    [a.]  Previous Year's Meetings: Jun '97 London, UK; Oct '97 Menlo
    Park, CA; Feb '98 Frisco, CO.

    [b.]  Next Year's Planned Meetings: June '98 Copenhagen, Denmark;
    Oct '98 Minneapolis, MN; Feb '99, Portland, OR.

    To best utilize the considerable technical expertise available in
    J11, J11 and SC22/WG14 will continue to hold co-located
    meetings. Two out of every three meetings will be located in
    North America.

    [c.] Officers:

    Chair                           Vice-Chair

    Rex Jaeschke                    Tom MacDonald
    2051 Swans Neck Way             Silicon Graphics, Inc.
    Reston, VA 20191                655F Lone Oak Drive
                                    Eagan, MN 55121
    Last trained: 1996              Last trained: 1996


    International Representative    Vocabulary Representative

    Douglas Walls                   Seymour, William A
    Sun Microsystems                Apt. D
    SunSoft, Inc.                   10072 Puttingtom Drive
    MS UMPK16-303                   St Louis, MO 63123-5233
    2550 Garcia Avenue
    Mountain View, CA 94043-1100
    Last trained: 1997              Last trained: --

    [d.]  Membership:

    JOHN BENITO                       TOM MACDONALD
    PERENNIAL                         SILICON GRAPHICS INC
    SUITE 130                         655F LONE OAK DRIVE
    3004 MISSION STREET               EAGAN MN 55121
    SANTA CRUZ CA 95060               612-683-5818
    408-748-2900                      612-683-5307
    408-457-3916                      tam@cray.com
    jb@peren.com
                                      NELSON MATTOS
    OLIVER BRADLEY                    IBM CORPORATION
    SAS INSTITUTE INC                 DEPT K55/B1
           X3 Subgroup Annual Report 1998 --- WG14 N805  J11/98-004        3



    SAS CAMPUS DRIVE                  650 HARRY ROAD
    CARY NC 27513                     SAN JOSE CA 95120
    919-677-8000                      408-927-2567
    919-677-8123                      408-927-4030
    sasotb@mvs.sas.com                mattos@vnet.ibm.com

    GREG COMEAU                       COLIN MCPHAIL
    COMEAU COMPUTING                  EDINBURGH PORTABLE COMPILERS
    91-34 120Th STREET                15-17 ALVA STREET
    RICHMOND HILL NY 11418            EDINBURGH EH2 4PH
                                      SCOTLAND
    FRANK FARANCE
    FARANCE INC                       RANDY MEYERS
    555 MAIN STREET                   NONE
    NEW YORK NY 10044-0150            16 Oliver Drive
    212-486-4700                      Hudson, NH 03051
    212-759-1605                      603-886-6540
    frank@farance.com                 rmeyers@ix.netcom.com

    MATS FORS                         DAVE MOONEY
    IAR SYSTEMS AB                    IBM CORPORATION
    PO BOX 23051                      1B/812/1150/TOR
    ISLANDSGATAN 2                    1150 EGLINTON AVENUE EAST
    S-75023 UPPSALA SWEDEN            NORTH YORK ONTARIO M3C 1H7
    mats.fors@iar.se                  416-448-4474
                                      dmm@vnet.ibm.com
    CRAIG FRANKLIN
    GREEN HILLS SOFTWARE              C.D. PIERCE
    510 CASTILLO STREET               US ARMY
    SANTA BARBARA CA 93101            MNGMT ENGINEERING TRAINING
    805-965-6044                      ATTN: AMXOM-PA
                                      ROCK ISLAND IL 61299
    ROGER GOLLIVER                    703-664-4882
    INTEL CORP
    M/S JF3-363                       P.J. PLAUGER
    2111 NE 25Th AVENUE               DINKUMWARE LTD
    HILLSBORO OR 97124-5961           198 MAIN STREET
    503-264-7104                      CONCORD MA 01742
    502-264-7902                      978-371-2773
    roger_a_golliver@ccm.jf.intel.com 978-371-9014
                                      pjp@plauger.com
    DOUGLAS GWYN
    US ARMY                           THOMAS PLUM
    6449 Tauler Court                 PLUM HALL INC
    Columbia, MD 21045-4530           PO BOX 44610
    301-394-2287                      KAMUELA HI 96743
                                      808-882-1255
    Harris, Erin                      808-882-1556
    IBM CORPORATION                   tplum@plumhall.com
    1150 EGLINTON AVENUE EAST
    NORTH YORK ONTARIO M3C 1H7        TOM ROBINSON
    CANADA                            PERENNIAL
    erin@vnet.ibm.com                 SUITE 210
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                                      4699 OLD IRONSIDES DRIVE
                                      SANTA CLARA CA 95054
    Bob Harrison                      tom@peren.com
    Unisys Corp.
    bob.harrison@unisys.com           WILLIAM RUGOLSKY
                                      FARANCE INC
    JOHN HASSEY                       100 S BAY AVENUE
    DATA GENERAL CORP                 FREEPORT NY 11520
    62 T W ALEXANDER DRIVE            rugolsky@farance.com
    RES TRIANGLE PARK NC 27709
    919-248-6385                      Shepardson, Dick
    919-248-6108                      RICHARD RUSSELL
    hassey@dg-rtp.dg.com              MICROWARE SYSTEMS
                                      1900 NW 114TH STREET
    Keith Hauer-Lowe                  DES MOINES IA 50325
    Unisys Corp.                      518-224-1929

    MARK HOERTH                       HERB SCHILDT
    HEWLETT-PACKARD CO                398 COUNTY ROAD 2500N
    M/S 42U5                          MANOMET IL 61853
    11000 WOLFE ROAD                  217-586-4997
    CUPERTINO CA 95014-0184           217-586-4683
    408-447-0184                      hschildt@soltec.com
    mhoerth@cup.hp.com
                                      ROBERT SCHMIDT
    REX JAESCHKE                      #BB-301
    2051 SWANS NECK WAY               3543 167TH COURT NE
    RESTON VA 20191                   REDMOND WA 98052
    703-860-0091                      206-881-6990
    703-860-3008                      rschmidt@netcom.com
    rex@aussie.com
                                      PETER SEEBACH
    SCOTT JAMESON                     3949 LYNDALE AVENUE SOUTH
    DIGITAL EQUIPMENT CORP            MINNEAPOLIS MN 55409
    M/S LJ02                          seebs@plethora.net
    30 PORTER ROAD
    LITTLETON MA 01460                WILLIAM SEYMOUR
    508-486-2179                      APT D
    SCOTT.JAMESON@LJO.DEC.COM         10072 PUTTINGTON DRIVE
                                      ST LOUIS MO 63123-5233
    JANIS JOHNSON                     314-923-2416
    SEQUENT COMPUTER SYSTEMS          314-340-2212
    15450 SW KOLL PARKWAY             wseymour@email.usps.gov
    BEAVERTON OR 97006-6063
    501-578-5458                      REID TATGE
    janis@sequent.com                 TEXAS INSTRUMENTS INC
                                      M/S 6431
    LAWRENCE JONES                    PO BOX 1443
    SDRC                              HOUSTON TX  77001
    2000 EASTMAN DRIVE                713-274-3495
    MILFORD OH 45150                  713-274-2558
    513-576-2070                      reid@tools.micro.ti.com
    larry.jones@sdrc.com
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                                      FRED TYDEMAN
    DAVID KEATON                      Tydeman Consulting
    KEATON CONSULTING                 3711 Del Robles Drive
    #311                              Austin, TX 78727-1814
    1630 30TH STREET                  tydeman@tybor.com
    BOULDER CO 80301
    719-687-3577                      DOUGLAS WALLS
    dmk@dmk.com                       SUN MICROSYSTEMS INC
                                      M/S UMPK16-303
    JOHN KWAN                         2550 GARCIA AVENUE
    HEWLETT-PACKARD CO                MOUNTAIN VIEW CA 94043-1100
    19447 PRUNERIDGE AVE              415-786-9319
    CUPERTINO CA 95014                douglas.walls@eng.sun.com
    408-447-6442
    jkwan@cup.hp.com                  JEFF ZEEB
                                      DIGITAL EQUIPMENT CORP
    FRANCIS LYNCH                     ZKO 2-3/N30
    PLUM HALL INC                     110 SPIT BROOK ROAD
    827 BEACON DRIVE                  NASHUA NH 03062
    SCHAUMBURG IL 60193               603-881-2070
                                      zeeb@tle.enet.dec.com

                                      FRED ZEMKE
                                      ORACLE CORPORATION
                                      BOX 659408
                                      500 ORACLE PARKWAY
                                      REDWOOD SHORES CA 94065
                                      415-506-2051
                                      415-506-7203
                                      fzemke@us.oracle.com

    [e.]  Liaison Activities:

    SC22/WG14 (ISO C): assist with revision of C standard.
    J16:  coordinate issues common to C/C++.
    X3T2: learn more about their work and the impact of supporting
        language-independent arithmetic in C9X).

    [f.]  Administration Matters of Note:

    In Dec 1997, the Project Editor, Frank Farance, was replaced by
    Larry Jones.

    [g.]  Procedural Matters of Note: None.

    [h.]  Recommendations: None.

    [i.]  Market Impact: No comment.

    4. Anticipated Projects

    None beyond continuing with the revision process.

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    5. Future Trends in this Technical Area

    The vast majority of the participants on J11 and SC22/WG14
    believe an enhanced C language has a significant role to play in
    future software development. The evolution and acceptance of
    Standard C++ may well affect future revisions of C, as will
    other standardization efforts such as internationalization and
    cross-language standards and bindings. At this stage it is too
    soon to predict just what the future standardization
    requirements for C will be be once C9X has been adopted. To be
    sure, there are competing technologies, not the least of which
    is the Java (TM) programming language, increasingly being used
    for the development of stand-alone and window-based programs,
    which in recent years, have been the domain of C and C++.