This report is in the form of the requested "Business Plan." Other items are included in an additional Section 4.
July 1999-July 2000
Development of ISO standards for Programming Language Ada
Planning for the development of a Technical Corrigenda document has begun. Its completion and approval is anticipated in 2000. See Requested Action 4.1.1.
Withdrawal of this standard was approved by the 1998 SC22 Plenary.
Withdrawal of this standard was approved by the 1998 SC22 Plenary.
Since the 1998 SC22 plenary, this standard was published.
Since the 1998 SC22 plenary, this standard was published.
Because this standard is premised upon the 1987 version of Ada, because of low market acceptance, and because of technological evolution, WG9 recommends withdrawal of this standard at the expiration of its five-year review period. See Requested Action 4.1.2.
The contents of 11735 are substantively subsumed by the 1995 revision of 8652. This Technical Report will be withdrawn when usage of the 1987 version of the Ada language has diminished.
Since the 1998 SC22 plenary, this standard was published.
Since the 1998 SC22 plenary, this document was successfully balloted at the PDTR level and forwarded to JTC1 for DTR ballot.
Since the 1998 SC22 plenary, this project was approved as an NP, approved as an FCD, and forwarded to JTC1 for FDIS ballot.
There are two major professional societies in this area: the Special Interest Group on Ada (SIG) of the Association for Computing Machinery and Ada-Europe. The semi-annual meetings of WG9 are scheduled to coincide with the major conferences organized by these two groups. Informal but close cooperation with SIGAda is maintained by the convener. The UK Head of Delegation to WG9 is also an officer of Ada-Europe.
There is one major vendor consortium, the Ada Resource Association (ARA). Informal liaison with ARA is maintained. WG9 is looking for opportunities to transpose de facto standards from the ARA.
The United States Department of Defense (DOD) has a continuing interest in the Ada language. Liaison is assured because DoD funds the convener to serve in his position.
In addition, liaison and/or consultation are applied as appropriate with other working groups in SC22.
Although certain segments of the US DOD remain committed to favoring Ada, notably the real-time, embedded systems community, the DoD has elected to "privatize" its activities in the area of compiler conformity assessment. WG9 stepped up to the responsibility of assuming this role by developing a conformity assessment standard so that the authority of ISO could substitute for the authority of DoD in this vital area. With the cooperation of the SC22, JTC1 and ITTF, WG9 has succeeded in processing an appropriate standard at the ISO "speed of light." Publication is anticipated in September 1999. If achieved, the standard will been completed and published only fifteen months following the realization of its need and only nine months after the approval of the corresponding NP.
Achieved during the past year:
Available resources continue to decline. 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.
Aside from the specific deliverables described below, the most important task of WG9 is to publish a Technical Corrigenda document for the Ada standard.
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 strategies described above. WG9 has mitigated this risk by providing mechanisms for full treatment of NB technical concerns at the WG level.
National body participation in WG9 continues to decline. See Requested Action 4.1.4. At this time, there is no immediate risk.
None.
By year-end 2000, a Technical Corrigenda document for the Ada standard, ISO/IEC 8652, will have been approved. This CORR may make several dozen changes throughout the specification. WG9 believes that the uptake of the revised standard would be improved by public availability. WG9 understands that, in accordance with current policy, the CORR document will be made publicly available. However, WG9 believes that the base standard, as updated by the CORR, should be made publicly available. WG9 understands that there are costs associated with the preparation and publication of standards. In this case, though, WG9 believes that innovative cost recovery mechanisms might be satisfactory. For example, WG9 suggests that ITTF consider the following arrangement:
WG9 believes that the outlined approach might also be suitable for other IT standards.
Other alternative funding models were suggested. For example, one might consider the possibility that parties proposing New Work Items would be required to identify a source of funding to reimburse the expense of ITTF in the preparation and publication of standards. An advantage of this approach is that market relevance of the proposed New Work Item would be clearly demonstrated.
The item described in Section 3.0 is the top concern of WG9. Much of the appeal of the Ada language is based upon the precision of its specification, the robust (but now informal) process of language clarification, and compiler validation.
This section lists other items that are not part of the "Business Plan" but are appropriate for Convener's Report.
SC22 is requested to endorse the following WG9 resolution:
[WG9 Resolution 36-4] WG9 recognizes that the normal five-year period for initiating revision of ISO/IEC 8652 lapses during the year 2000. In the judgment of WG9, the interests of the Ada community are best served by developing a Technical Corrigenda document rather than by revising the standard. Accordingly, JTC1/SC22/WG9 requests the concurrence of SC22 and JTC1 in confirming the current standard, ISO/IEC 8652:1995, and in scheduling the next periodic review of that standard for the year 2005.
SC22 is requested to endorse the following WG9 resolution:
[WG9 Resolution 36-3] ISO/IEC JTC1/SC22/WG9 recommends to SC22 that the following standard be withdrawn when it reaches the end of its five-year life. The standard is relevant to the 1987 version of the Ada language standard rather than the current version: ISO/IEC 12227:1995 SQL/Ada Module Description Language (SAMeDL), Project JTC1.22.31.
SC22 is requested to place an item on the agenda of its 1999 plenary meeting to discuss the following WG9 resolution:
[WG9 Resolution 36-11] WG9 believes that it is in the best interests of the community if standards be made as freely available as possible. Standards ultimately benefit society as a whole through cheaper manufacturing and integration costs. Disincentives to use standards should be minimized wherever possible.
Whereas paper copies involve the originating organization in significant production and distribution costs to which it is appropriate that the recipient should contribute, electronic distribution is of a different nature since the costs of printing and distribution are borne by the recipient by the very nature of the mechanism.
WG9 concludes that approved standards should be published on the World Wide Web permitting access at no cost or a substantially reduced cost, perhaps subsidized by alternative funding models.
SC22 is requested to place an item on the agenda of its 1999 plenary meeting to discuss the following issue:
Formal membership in WG9 is declining because of financial policies pursued by JTC1 member bodies. Several nations have ceased participation in WG9 in recent years because of fees levied upon volunteers to finance the operation of the national bodies at levels higher than the working group. In the case of WG9, many of the individual participants are true volunteers who participate independently of their employment. WG9 and its Rapporteur Groups have held travel expense to a minimum by conducting business by email and by co-locating meetings with technical conferences. In spite of this, though, national body fees have taken their toll on participation.
The discussion would deal with two issues: