JTC1/SC22
N3921
From:ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC22
Programming languages, their environments and system software interfaces
Secretariat: U.S.A. (ANSI)
ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC22 N3921
TITLE:
SC 22/WG 5 Business Plan/Convener's Report
DATE ASSIGNED:
2005-08-02
SOURCE:
SC 22/WG 5 Convenor (J. Reid)
BACKWARD POINTER:
N/A
DOCUMENT TYPE:
Other document (Open)
PROJECT NUMBER:
STATUS:
This document will be reviewed at the upcoming SC 22 Plenary under Agenda
Item 8.3.
ACTION IDENTIFIER:
FYI
DUE DATE:
N/A
DISTRIBUTION:
Text
CROSS REFERENCE:
DISTRIBUTION FORM:
Open
Sally Seitz
ANSI
25 West 43rd Street
New York, NY 10036
Telephone: (212) 642-4918
Fax: (212) 840-2298
Email: [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>
____________________End of cover page, beginning of document_______
ISO/IEC JTC1/SC22/WG5 N1632
WG5 Business Plan and Convener's Report to the ISO/IEC JTC1/SC22 2005
Plenary
PERIOD COVERED BY THIS REPORT: August 2004 to July 2005.
SUBMITTED BY: John Reid
1 MANAGEMENT SUMMARY
1.1 JTC1/SC22/WG5 Statement of Scope
The development and maintenance of ISO/IEC Fortran programming language
standards.
1.2 Project Report
1.2.1 Completed Projects
22.02.01.01 Programming Language Fortran - Part 1: Base language
The requirements for the revision of the base Fortran Standard
(IS 1539-1:1997), referred to informally as Fortran 2003, were agreed
by WG5 at its meeting in Las Vegas, USA, in February 1997. In
accordance with WG5's agreed strategic policy, the development of the
draft standard was delegated to INCITS/J3, acting as WG5's Primary
Development Body.
After rescheduling in 1999, the target date for final publication
was December 2004 and this was achieved slightly ahead of schedule.
It was published on Nov 18 as ISO/IEC 1539-1:2004(E) and is in the
ISO on-line catalogue, price CHF 340.
The final stages did not run as smoothly as we wished. The DIS, together
with a Disposition of Comments Report from the FCD ballot was sent to
the Secretariat on 13 May 2004 and she sent it to ISO for DIS balloting
on 17 May, but the ballot did not commence until 12 July. It ran to
12 September and it passed 17-0. Two further months delay then occurred
before publication, during which communication with ISO was poor. The
editor wished to make 6 purely typographical corrections and offered to
send a new pdf file. He also wished to correct 7 differences in
pagination between the DIS and the version with line numbers (that is
likely to be used exclusively by the committees in preference to the ISO
version without them). This offer was not accepted, but most of the
requested corrections were made. However, the "hot links" that were in
the PDF sent to ISO were not in the published version, which resulted in
several user complaints. Later, ISO asked the editor if he could produce
a revised PDF with the hot links, but this was impractical because the
lack of prior coordination meant that all the editing done by ISO would
have had to be redone in the LaTeX source used by WG5 to produce the
hot-linked PDF. This would have led to pagination differences.
22.02.01.05 Type 2 Technical Report on Enhanced Module Facilities
The TR on Enhanced Module Facilities was published on Feb 15 as
ISO/IEC TR 19767:2005(E) and is in the ISO on-line catalogue, price
CHF 75. The principal aims are to enable decomposing large and
interconnected facilities into tractable units, avoid 'recompilation
cascades' when a single module of a very large program is altered,
assist packaging proprietary software, and ease library creation and
maintenance.
Again, the final stages did not run as smoothly as we wished. It was
the subject of a DTR ballot that ran from 18 June 2004 to 18 August 2004.
This was passed with 13 yeses without comments, 0 yeses with comments,
0 nos, and 6 abstentions. The editor was asked to provide a new version
with some editorial changes in the Foreword and a change of fonts.
This was sent on 1 September 2004. A proof prepared from this was not
sent until 15 December 2004. We responded to this on 23 December
with a short list of substantive changes and a short list of
non-substantive changes. The editor offered a new version with all
these changes included, but this was not accepted. Only the substantive
changes were made.
1.2.2 Projects Underway
22.02.01.01 Programming Language Fortran - Part 1: Base language
The primary responsibility for maintenance of Fortran 2003 has been
delegated to INCITS/J3. Our procedure is that each interpretation
request is first considered by J3. Once a response has been
agreed at a J3 meeting, a J3 letter ballot is held, and if this is
successful it is followed by an informal WG5 vote. A vote is deemed to
have failed if there are any no votes with reasons that have not so far
been considered. This gives plenty of scope for detailed analysis and
gives the result good credibility.
30 interpretations had passed all these stages by the end of the May 2005
meeting and the first corrigendum was prepared. Defect Report 1 for
Fortran 2003 (ISO/IEC JTC1/SC22/WG5 N1640) contains responses to all
these and the corresponding edits are collected in the first draft
corrigendum for Fortran 2003 (ISO/IEC JTC1/SC22/WG5 N1641). They are
currently being balloted (ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC22 N3905), with due date
31 August 2005.
At the time of writing (July 2005) there are 33 interpretations being
processed.
It was agreed at the May 2004 meeting of WG5 that the next revision
should be minor (as was Fortran 95 as a revision of Fortran 90) with
a target publication date of 2009. WG5 is already committed to including
the enhanced module facilities of its TR. A Repository of Requirements
(Standing Document 5) has been established and revised several times;
the latest version is ISO/IEC JTC1/SC22/WG5 N1626. It contains 49 items
from USA, 6 items from the Russian Federation, and 10 items from the UK.
They have all been allocated an integer 'severity level' (see WG5 N1594)
that varies between 7 for a technical change likely to need more than
2 years to develop to 3 for a very minor technical change. At the
meeting in May 2005, all items at level 4 and above and many of those
at level 3 were considered. 16 were chosen definitely, the most
significant of which was co-arrays for parallel processing (level 6).
17 were chosen subject to J3 time permitting, and 12 were excluded
definitely. The plan is to make a final choice at the next meeting
(Feb. 2006)
22.02.01.05 Type 2 Technical Report on Enhanced Module Facilities
With the publication of the TR on Enhanced Module Facilities,
this now enters a maintenance stage.
22.02.02 Programming Language Fortran - Part 2: Varying Length
Character Strings
Features of Fortran 2003 cover almost all the requirements for which
Part 2 was written. However, the new standard has not yet been
published and it is likely to be several years before compilers will
be widely available. Therefore, WG5 continues to have responsibility
for maintenance, but there have been no interpretation requests.
22.02.03 Programming Language Fortran - Part 3: Conditional
Compilation
Now that the revision of the base language has been published, a minor
revision of this part may be appropriate, but work on this has not
commenced. WG5 continues to have responsibility for maintenance, but
there have been no interpretation requests.
1.2.3 Projects Withdrawn
None.
1.3 Cooperation and Competition
WG5 cooperates closely with the ANSI INCITS/J3 Fortran Technical
Committee, to whom it has delegated the technical development of
Fortran as well as the maintenance of Fortran 2003 (ISO/IEC
1539-1:2004(E)). There is also close contact with the industry-driven
HPF and OpenMP Architecture Review Board, with several members of the
Board also being members of J3 and/or WG5. For example, the OpenMP
board has aligned the OpenMP 2.0 Release with Fortran 95. Many of
those responsible for the development of commercial Fortran compilers
are members of J3 and/or WG5.
Other important liaisons are those with IFIP WG2.5 (Numerical
Software), IEEE 754 (Floating-point hardware), ANSI INCITS/H2
(Data base), and ANSI INCITS/J11 (C)
There are no competitive activities.
2 PERIOD REVIEW
2.1 Market Requirements
Fortran is the language of choice for much scientific, engineering,
and economic programming, particularly for very large programs that
have evolved over many years. The long delay between the release of
Fortran 77 and the availability of Fortran 90 compilers, at a time
when other languages, such as C and C++, were evolving rapidly, had a
significant impact on the use of Fortran, but there are now clear
signs that the facilities available in Fortran 90 and Fortran 95 are
causing a growing number of scientific and technological users to move
towards these latest versions of Fortran. Vendors have upgraded their
Fortran 90 compilers to Fortran 95, most of them have incorporated the
extensions of TR 15581 (allocatable array extensions), and some have
incorporated the extensions of TR 15580 (exception handling and
support of IEEE floating-point arithmetic). Some have begun implementing
the new features of Fortran 2003.
Most major Fortran compiler vendors are represented either on WG5 or
its Primary Development Body, INCITS/J3, as are two of the major
research establishments that rely on Fortran for their scientific
computing. In addition to vendor-supplied and specific mailing lists,
there is an active email list and an active usenet newsgroup for users
of Fortran, which provide valuable feedback from users. All these
diverse sources are being used to guide the development of the
language, both through revisions to the base language Standard, and
through other related standards and technical reports.
2.2 Achievements
The Fortran standard has passed a significant milestone with the
publication of the Fortran 2003 standard. Similarly, the TR on enhanced
module facilities has passed a significant milestone with its publication.
2.3 Resources
As elsewhere in the Standardization world, it is becoming increasingly
difficult to persuade employers to provide the necessary funding for
Standards activity. The number of employers, especially among compiler
vendors, continues to decline through corporate mergers and
acquisitions. WG5 delegates most of the technical work involved
in developing Standards and Technical Reports to 'development bodies'
which are either based on a national Fortran committee, as in the case
of INCITS/J3, or consist of a (small) multinational group under the
leadership of the relevant project editor. WG5 currently has one such
active development body (the primary development body) developing
standards, and four development bodies monitoring published standards
and technical reports for maintenance purposes.
WG5 itself carries out much of its discussions via email, with an
annual meeting, usually during the summer, and occasional other meetings
at critical stages in the development of the base language standard. The
meeting in May 2005 was attended by 23 members, including the Convener,
representing 6 member bodies.
3 FOCUS FOR NEXT WORK PERIOD
3.1 Deliverables
It is envisaged that the second corrigendum for Part 1 will be
submitted in the summer of 2006.
It is envisaged that a new work item for the revision of Part 1 will be
submitted in the summer of 2006.
3.2 Strategies
WG5 operates under a strategic plan described in WG5 Standing Document
4, the latest version of which is WG5 N1349. In particular, the
revision of the base Standard, IS 1539-1, is delegated to ANSI
INCITS/J3 operating as WG5's Primary Development Body, while the other
projects for which WG5 is responsible are handled by other Development
Bodies, which liaise with the Primary Development Body as required.
3.2.1 Risks
As far as possible, WG5 tries to anticipate technical comments during
international ballots by holding informal ballots of its members
before any documents are submitted for ballot. Nevertheless,
unexpected technical comments can always delay the planned schedule.
3.2.2 Opportunities
WG5 has made extensive use of email for over a decade to speed up
technical development. Since 1995 most documents have been distributed
via an official file server in the UK; all documents have been
distributed in this way since 1997. An open web site is also used to
provide non-technical, and other publicly available, information to
interested parties.
In addition to speeding up the distribution of documents, the use of
electronic distribution and communication systems also provides many
other benefits, such as the ability to rapidly carry out informal
ballots of the members for various reasons.
3.2.3 Work Program Priorities
WG5's priority activities this year are the maintenance of the base
Fortran language Standard, ISO/IEC 1539-1:2004(E) and the consideration
of items submitted to the Repository as candidates for the next revision.
4. ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION
4.1 WG5 Liaisons
See Section 1.3.
4.2 Recent Meetings
2003/07/28-08/01 Dresden, Germany
2004/05/02-07 Las Vegas, USA
2005/05/9-13 Delft, Netherlands
4.3 Future Meetings
2006/02/13-17 George Mason University, USA
2007/07 or 2007/08 London, UK
Note that WG5 normally meets annually, with extra meetings being held
as/when necessary to process ballot comments or other high priority
activities that do not accord with the regular meeting schedule.
WG5's Primary Development Body, INCITS/J3, meets quarterly. Other
work is carried out via email.
5. SC22 PLENARY ACTIONS RELATED TO WG5
5.1 Free availability of three TRs and a Corrigendum
WG5 requests that WG5's three Type 2 TRs be made freely available. They
are:
ISO/IEC TR 15580:2001
ISO/IEC TR 15581:2001
ISO/IEC TR 19767:2005
It also requests that if the Technical Corrigendum that is currently being
balloted is published that this be made freely available.
5.2 Change of editor for Part 1 of the Fortran standard
WG5 requests that Malcolm Cohen, NAG, UK, be appointed as editor of
Part 1 in succession to Richard Maine who stepped down with the publication
of Fortran 2003.
5.3 Delays during the final stages of publication of standards
ISO has made it very clear to committee secretaries that time is of the
essence
in standards development. Therefore WG5 requests SC22 to discuss with the
ISO
secretariat the delays that WG5 experienced in the final stages of
publication
of both Fortran 2003 and the TR (see Section 1.2.1 of this report) and to
seek
improvements.
Sally Seitz
Program Manager
ANSI
25 West 43rd Street
New York, NY 10036
Phone: (212) 642-4918
Fax: (212) 840-2298