Business Plan and Convener’s Report

ISO/IEC JTC1/SC22/WG14 (The Programming Language C)

 

Document: ISO/IEC JTC1/SC22/WG14 N917



PERIOD COVERED:
June 1999 - July 2000
SUBMTTED BY:
Convener, ISO/IEC JTC1/SC22/WG14
John Benito
Perennial, Inc.
3004 Mission Street #130
Santa Cruz, CA 95060
www.peren.com
Phone: +1 831 457 3915
Fax: +1 831 457 3916
Email: jb@peren.com

 

  1. MANAGEMENT SUMMARY
    1. JTC1/SC22/WG14 STATEMENT OF SCOPE

      2. Development and maintenance of ISO/IEC Standards related to the programming language C.

    2. PROJECT REPORT
      1. COMPLETED PROJECTS

        2. JTC1.22.20.01 – Programming Language C (Revision of ISO/IEC 9899:1990), This project was delivered by the publishing of ISO/IEC 9899:1999.

      2. PROJECTS UNDERWAY

        3. JTC1 NP 18037, Extensions for the programming language C to support embedded processors. This a Technical Report type II.

      3. CANCELLED PROJECTS

        4. None over this period.

      4. COOPERATION and COMPETITION

        5. Where appropriate, WG14 has established active liaisons with other SC22 working groups. There is no apparent direct competition with any other current SC22 working group.

     

  2. PEROID REVIEW
    1. MARKET REQUIREMENTS

      2. WG14 feels that it is responding to user community pressure and to implementers concerns by revising the ISO/IEC 9899 standard on schedule. WG14 believes this new ISO/IEC 9899:1999 answers these concerns and keeps the International Standard for the C programming language current with today’s programming trends and market. The evolution of Object Oriented programming, numerical extensions that were proposed by J11.1, internationalization, advancements in character set standardization, cross-language standards and cross-language bindings all were considered in the newly revised standard. These issues were also taken into consideration when request for the newly approved project JTC1 NP 18037 was submitted. Most of these issues where not considered during the technical discussions for the original ISO C Standard ISO/IEC 9899:1999. Please, see document ISO/IEC JCT 1/SC22 N2265 "Charter for the Revision of the C Standard" for more details.

    2. ACHIEVEMENTS

      3. WG14 produced the ISO/IEC 9899:1999, a revision of ISO/IEC 9899:1990. WG14 also worked on Defect Reports, keeping the Defect Report Log current. A new work item has also been approved, see ISO/IEC SC22 N3120, a Technical Report type II, "Extensions for the programming language C to support embedded processors".

    3. RESOURCES

      4. WG14 meets two times per year in co-located technical sessions with the US committee J11. Over the past year, WG14 has timed its technical sessions to coincide with WG21, allowing those technical experts that would like to attend both technical sessions the opportunity to do so. Twelve countries participate by attending these meetings or by being involved in the technical discussions that take place over the reflector. The countries are: Australia, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Japan, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, UK, and the USA.

      WG14 has been monitoring the cross-language standards activities, and are using the ISO/IEC JTC 1/WG20 guidelines on extended characters. WG14 has also keep apprised of the requirements of the LIA-1,2 standards.

      WG14 liaison appointments are:

      WG11Language Independent DatatypesKeld Simonsen
      WG15PosixKeld Simonsen
      WG20InternationalizationKeld Simonsen
      WG21C++John Benito


  3. FOCUS NEXT WORK PERIOD
    4.

    WG14 will focus on the new work item JTC1 NP 18037, a type II technical report, see ISO/IEC SC22 N3120. The Committee discussed several other possible new work items, but has not reached consensus on any of the remaining items yet. The items identified to discuss are:
      1. Conformance
      2. Sequence Points
      3. Time
      4. I/O Hardware Support
      1. DELIVERABLES

        2. None.

      2. STRATEGIES

        3. WG14 believes that routine handling will suffice to complete the progress desired.

      3. RISKS

        4. No problems are anticipated.

      4. OPPORTUNITIES

        5. None.

      5. WORK PROGRAM PRIORITIES

    WG14 will concentrate on the new work item NP 18037, however WG14 will still respond to Defect Report logged for the current ISO/IEC 9899:1999 Standard.

  4. OTHER ITEMS
    5.
    1. POSSIBLE ACTION REQUESTS AT FORTHCOMING PLENARY

      2. None

    2. WG14 SUPPORTS SC22 N2718

      3. WG14 supports the action requested in ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC22 N2718.

    3. PROJECT EDITORS

      4. The following individuals have been appointed project editors and backup project editors:

      JTC1.22.20.01 Programming Language C (Revision of ISO/IEC 9899:1990)

      Larry Jones (Project Editor), Douglas Walls (Backup Project Editor)
      JTC1 NP 18037, Extensions for the programming language C to support embedded processors.
      Willem Wakker (Project Editor)
    4. ELECTRONIC DOCUMENT DISTRIBUTION

      5. WG14 has conducted much of its detailed technical discussion using email reflector provided by the Danish UNIX Users Group and Keld Simonsen.

      WG14 also has an ftp and Web site provided by courtesy of the Danish UNIX Users Group and Keld Simonsen.

      WG14 is now providing all the appropriate committee documents on the Committee Web site, reducing the need for paper mailings.

    5. RECENT MEETINGS

      6. 23-27 Jun 1997London, UKBSI
      20-24 Oct 1997Menlo Park, CA, USAANSI, SUN MicroSystems
      02-06 Feb 1998Frisco, CO, USAANSI, Keaton Consulting
      23-27 Jun 1998Copenhagen, DenmarkDanish Standards
      05-09 Oct 1998Santa Cruz, CA, USAANSI, SGI/CRAY
      01-05 Feb 1999Portland, OR, USAANSI, Intel Corp.
      21-23 Jun 1999London, UKBSI
      18-23 Oct 1999Kona, HI, USAANSI, Plum Hall
      10-14 Apr 2000Tokyo, JapanITSCJ, NEC

    6. FUTURE MEETINGS

16-20 Oct 2000Toronto, CanadaSCC, IBM
23-27 Apr 2000Copenhagen, DenmarkDanish Standards