ISO/IEC JTC1/SC22/WG9 N434r

12 December 2003, Clyde Roby
These minutes are subject to correction and approval at the next meeting.

Draft 2: Includes corrections from Tullio Vardanega

Minutes
Meeting #45 of ISO/IEC JTC1/SC22/WG9
Friday, 12 December 2003
San Diego, California, USA

Meeting #45 of ISO/IEC JTC1/SC22/WG9 was colocated with the SIGAda conference. The meeting was scheduled for 9:00 am on Friday 12 December 2003 in the Kauai Room.

The announcement and preliminary agenda for this meeting were circulated as N432. The detailed agenda was circulated at N433.


Agenda

References


Detailed Agenda Items


Opening Orders, Jim Moore, Convener

Call to Order

The meeting was called to order at 9:05 am.

Welcoming Remarks by Host

The meeting was welcomed by Currie Colket, the Chair of SIGAda, to sunny San Diego. He announced that SIGAda 2004 will be held in Atlanta, Georgia, during the week of 14-18 November 2004.

Appointment of Meeting Secretary

Clyde Roby agreed to serve as meeting secretary. 

Approval of Agenda

France suggested a discussion of the use of Technical Reports to record specifications for APIs. This item was added under New Business.

Germany suggested a discussion of "the first day of the week." This item was added under New Business.

The agenda was approved.

Approval of Minutes of Meeting #44

Background The draft minutes of Meeting #44 are recorded in document N428.
Discussion No changes to the minutes were proposed.
Resolution [Resolution 45-1]

[Agenda]


National Body Introductions and Reports

Attendees:

National Body Representatives:

Canada (Steve Michell is unable to attend.)  
France Jean-Pierre Rosen (HOD), Pascal Leroy Report
Germany Erhard Ploedereder (HOD)  
Italy Tullio Vardanega (HOD)
Japan Kiyoshi Ishihata (HOD)  
Russia (Sergey Rybin is unable to attend)  
Switzerland (Alfred Strohmeier is unable to attend)  
UK John Barnes (HOD), Alan Burns
USA Joyce Tokar (HOD), Randy Brukardt, Currie Colket, Gary Dismukes, Tucker Taft Report

Liaison Representatives

Ada-Europe Erhard Ploedereder
SIGAda Currie Colket

WG9 Officers:

Convener Jim Moore
Webmaster Clyde Roby
ARG Rapporteur Pascal Leroy
ASIS RG Rapporteur Currie Colket
HRG Rapporteur Alan Burns
Project Editors
ISO/IEC 8652: Erhard Ploedereder, Randy Brukardt and Pascal Leroy
ISO/IEC 13813 and 13814: (Don Sando, Jon Squire and Ken Dritz are unable to attend)
ISO/IEC 15291: Clyde Roby
ISO/IEC TR 15942: (Brian Wichman is unable to attend)
ISO/IEC 18009: Erhard Ploedereder

Other Attendees:

 Observers:  Greg Gicca, Ed Schonberg

Those sending regrets include:  Ken Dritz (Editor), Stephen Michell (Canada), Jon Squire (Editor), Alfred Strohmeier (Switzerland)

HOD Reports:

France

AFNOR met on Nov, 27 in preparation of the WG9 meeting.

J-P. Rosen (HOD) and P. Leroy were nominated as delegates to the meeting.

There was some discussion about the general scope of the amendment. Special attention was given to concerns expressed by vendors, since they are key stake-holders for the success of the revision. At the request of the vendor, the following statement is included to reflect those concerns:

"Aonix is a strong supporter of the Ada language. As such we feel any update to the language by ISO Ada0Y should emphasize the stability of the language to give it the longest life time possible. Given this stance we feel that no changes to the semantics or syntax to the language should be made. Any changes should be made in the area of supporting libraries (similar to a more popular language such as C++). This approach maintains the set of available tools as well as the set of available trained programmers for the language and can better guarantee it's longevity into the future."

The group had no technical remarks about the AIs. However, the group decided to vote No to AI95-00252 because it did not agree with the intent of this AI, and to abstain on AI95-00297 short of a consensus. All other AIs were approved.

Some participants offered ideas of features that could be part of the amendment. The group agreed with these ideas and encouraged the participants to write these proposals as AIs, and submit them on behalf of AFNOR before 2003/12/31.

The group gave a lot of thoughts on the issue of AIs for adding new standard packages to the language. It is clear that Ada lacks APIs for functionnalities commonly found with other languages. On the other hand, defining APIs is a hard job, that requires much more resources than the ARG can offer. Although many such APIs are freely available from the Internet, it seems clear that as long as they don't have some kind of official blessing by WG9, there is few incentive to vendors to provide them, and that users are reluctant to use them.

Therefore, AFNOR proposes a resolution to WG9 that APIs be published as TRs rather than incorporated into the standard. A TR would require a group of dedicated volunteers with an identified editor, therefore requiring a consensus (as opposed to the ideas of a single person). It would have a kind of WG9 approval stamp. On the other hand, TRs can be processed much faster than standards, are easier to evolve, do not necessarily involve the ARG, and could even appear before 2005.

Similarly, TRs could be issued for interfacing Ada with languages that appeared after 1995 (C++), or even languages that have no corresponding ISO standard (Java, C#).

US 

The US delegation has been supporting the on-going maintenance of the Ada Language Reference Manual through a continuous review and refinement of issues that have arisen regarding the language definition. At present, the US delegation supports all of the Ada Issues (AIs) that been submitted to WG 9 for inclusion in the next Amendment to the language bar one, AI-297. An additional issue is not in the best form for inclusion in the standard, AI-348. The US delegation will support any dissenting votes from other delegations on this issue.

AI-297 is missing an appropriate description of time. Since time operations are the primary purpose of this package, this is a major flaw. (This was pointed out in editorial review.) The US delegation shall recommend to WG-9 that this AI be withdrawn from consideration and sent back for further revision. 

[Agenda]


Convener's Report

Report 

Possible Reinstatement of ISO/IEC 12227

Following discussion at the June 2003 meeting of WG9 and our report to the SC22 Secretariat, ISO/IEC 12227 remains as a withdrawn standard of JTC1. The convener appreciates the cooperation of the French National Body in resolving this issue.

Withdrawal of ISO/IEC 11735

All management and administrative steps have completed. ISO/IEC TR 11735 is now listed on the ISO web site as a withdrawn standard.

Systematic Review of Standards

Every year, JTC1 reviews its work programme, notably those standards approved five years prior, hence requiring action to confirm, revise or withdraw. In advance of this consideration, WG9 is required to make a recommendation that is forwarded to SC22 for endorsement. Normally, SC22 endorses our recommendations, JTC1 approves them and ISO Central Secretariat implements them. The process is lengthy but normally routine. This year, however, JTC1 voted to confirm ISO/IEC 13814 rather than withdraw it as requested by WG9 and SC22. The SC22 Secretariat is conducting a letter ballot authorizing it to request that JTC1 reconsider its action.

This is simply a procedural problem with no practical impact. However, it is notable that two national bodies, Germany and the USA, voted to reaffirm the standard at the JTC1 level after voting to withdraw it at the WG9 and SC22 levels. This incident indicates that it is appropriate for NB representatives to carefully coordinate with their parent organizations.

Discussion None

[Agenda]


Summary of Action Items and Unimplemented Resolutions

This is the "To Do" list for WG9. Some are informal action items assigned to various participants. Some are formal resolutions, which are not yet implemented. Some are suspense items awaiting action by other groups.

Resolution 38-4

ISO/IEC JTC1/SC22/WG9 recommends to SC22 that the following Technical Report be withdrawn when it reaches the end of its five-year review period. The Technical Report is relevant to the 1987 version of the Ada language standard rather than the current version: 

  • ISO/IEC TR 11735:1996, EXTensions for real-time Ada 

Status: CLOSED. The ISO web site now lists the standard as withdrawn.

Resolution 40-6

ISO/IEC JTC1/SC22/WG9 recommends to SC22 that the following Standard be confirmed when it reaches the end of its five-year review period: 

  • ISO/IEC 13813:1998 Generic packages of real and complex type declarations and basic operations for Ada (including vector and matrix types) 

ISO/IEC JTC1/SC22/WG9 recommends to SC22 that the following Standard be withdrawn when it reaches the end of its five-year review period: 

  • ISO/IEC 13814:1998 Generic package of complex elementary functions for Ada 

For status, see: [Project Editor Maintenance Report, 13813]

Action Item 42-4

(Convener and ASIS RG Rapporteur): Review ISO procedures for handling defects and develop an appropriate mechanism. Ensure that there are terms of reference for the ASIS RG.

Status: Administratively CLOSED. A new action item will be opened when the need is apparent.

Resolution 42-7

WG9 receives N405, Recommendation on ISO/IEC 13813 from the UK, and N404, Project Editor's Proposal of a Revised ISO/IEC 13813. To consider the recommendations of the UK:

  • The ARG is requested to prepare its recommendation regarding the appropriate packaging for the revised content of the standard. Alternatives to be considered include (but are not limited to) revision of ISO/IEC 13813, incorporation into an amended or revised ISO/IEC 8652, publication as a Technical Report, and publication external to ISO.
  • The convener is directed to circulate email ballots in WG9 to consider and implement any recommendations of the ARG.

For status, see [ Report of Ada Rapporteur Group ]

Action Item 43-1: 

(Convener): Forward a request to the ARG that it prepare a description of technical alternatives addressing the interaction of constrained access subtype and general access types. It is requested that the description include a discussion of tradeoffs among the proposed solutions. It is requested that this description be provided for the June 2003 meeting of WG9.

For status, see [ Report of Ada Rapporteur Group ]

Resolution 44-5:

WG9 authorizes the convener to forward N426 (with editorial corrections) to SC22 for approval as a New Work Item. The convener is also authorized to attach N424 (with editorial corrections) to the NP with a request for concurrent registration as a PDTR.

For status, see [ Report of Annex H Rapporteur Group ]

Resolution 44-6:

ISO/IEC JTC1/SC22/WG9 recommends to SC22 that the following Standard be confirmed when it reaches the end of its five-year review period:

  • ISO/IEC 18009:1999, Conformity Assessment of an Ada Language Processor

For status, see [ Project Editor Maintenance Report, ISO/IEC 18009 ]

Resolution 44-7:

ISO/IEC JTC1/SC22/WG9 recommends to SC22 that the following Standard be confirmed when it reaches the end of its five-year review period:

  • ISO/IEC 15291:1999, Information Technology--Programming Languages--Ada Semantic Interface Specification (ASIS)

For status, see [ Project Editor Maintenance Report, ISO/IEC 15291 ]

Resolution 44-8:

ISO/IEC JTC1/SC22/WG9 directs its convener to report to SC22 as follows: "At the request of SC22 and AFNOR, WG9 has reviewed its recommendation regarding the status of ISO/IEC 12227. As a result of this review, WG9 has decided to confirm its prior recommendation and AFNOR has decided to withdraw its request for reinstatement of the standard."

Status: CLOSED. As of 25 November 2003, the ISO web site still lists ISO/IEC 12227 as withdrawn.

[Agenda]


Scheduling of Meetings

Background

Meeting #46 was scheduled by Resolution 45-3 [see N428] to be "in conjunction with the Ada-Europe 2004 conference in Palma de Mallorca, Spain on Friday, 18 June 2004."

Following the usual practice, Meeting #47 would be scheduled in conjunction with the SIGAda 2004 conference, Friday, 19 November 2004, Atlanta, Georgia, USA.

Discussion The convener noted that this SIGAda conference ended at noon on Thursday and asked if WG9 should conduct Meeting #47 on Thursday afternoon rather than Friday morning. The SIGAda representative noted that SIGAda's meetings usually complete by 12:00 or 1:00 PM on Thursday. Rooms would be available Thursday afternoon and projectors would already be set up. The ARG Rapporteur suggested that WG9 meet on Thursday afternoon so that Friday and the rest of the weekend could be used for RG meetings, especially for ARG. Tucker Taft (USA) mentioned that a Thursday afternoon meeting would also allow WG9 members to attend SIGAda. There was a consensus that WG9 should meet on Thursday afternoon, 18 November 2004, starting at 14:00, in Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
Resolution [Resolution 45-3

[Agenda]


Report of Ada Rapporteur Group, Pascal Leroy (Rapporteur)

Background

WG9 N406: Procedures of the ARG

WG9 N412: Instructions to the Ada Rapporteur Group from SC22/WG9 for Preparation of the Amendment to ISO/IEC 8652.

WG9 N423: Convener's Comments on Instructions to the Ada Rapporteur Group from SC22/WG9 for Preparation of the Amendment to ISO/IEC 8652

Resolution 44-4 of N428: The convener directs the Rapporteur of the ARG to send the list of AIs intended for submission to WG9 to NB and liaison representatives at the time they enter the 'editorial review' state. It would then be the duty of each NB and liaison representative to circulate this information within their own organization for the purpose of developing a position for the forthcoming meeting of WG9.

Open Item
Resolution 42-7

WG9 receives N405, Recommendation on ISO/IEC 13813 from the UK, and N404, Project Editor's Proposal of a Revised ISO/IEC 13813. To consider the recommendations of the UK:

  • The ARG is requested to prepare its recommendation regarding the appropriate packaging for the revised content of the standard. Alternatives to be considered include (but are not limited to) revision of ISO/IEC 13813, incorporation into an amended or revised ISO/IEC 8652, publication as a Technical Report, and publication external to ISO.
  • The convener is directed to circulate email ballots in WG9 to consider and implement any recommendations of the ARG.

Status: OPEN.

Open Item

Action Item 43-1:

(Convener) Forward a request to the ARG that it prepare a description of technical alternatives addressing the interaction of constrained access subtype and general access types. It is requested that the description include a discussion of tradeoffs among the proposed solutions. It is requested that this description be provided for the June 2003 meeting of WG9.

Status: OPEN. From the ARG Rapporteur, 26 May 2003: "At the Padua ARG meeting I discussed this with Tucker and we agreed that the two of us needed to write a memo covering all the issues and the technical implications of the possible resolutions. We also had the feeling that, while this is an issue that must be addressed in the context of the Amendment, it is not particularly urgent. At this point in time it seems more important to make progress (and try to achieve consensus) on the "big" AIs. Once the scope of the Amendment is frozen (which is at the end of this year) we'll do research on the more pathological and obscure issues."

Written Report

Received from ARG Rapporteur, Pascal Leroy, 25 November 2003:

The ARG met in Toulouse, France in June and in Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada in October. In addition, it was decided, given the amount of work remaining to be done on the Amendment, to have an additional meeting in conjunction with the SIGAda 2003 conference in San Diego, CA, USA in December. As is customary, most of the ARG meetings were devoted to amendment AIs. Good progress was made on many amendments, and a number of them are now ready for consideration by WG9 (see list below). Very importantly, a consensus was reached on some of the most controversial AIs, in particular mutually dependent types across packages, and accidental overloading. Furthermore, as the proposals start to stabilize, the ARG has started giving some consideration to interactions between AIs, and to the consistency, uniformity and orthogonality of some of the changes. In some cases this might lead to the generalization of some of the existing AIs to provide additional flexibility or to better integrate them with the rest of the Amendment.

The deadline for proposals emanating from groups other than WG9 or its liaisons closed at the end of September, so at this point any proposal coming from the "outside world" is likely to be classified as Received No Action, unless such a proposal happens to fit naturally into an existing AI. Similarly the deadline for proposals emanating from WG9 or its liaisons is going to close at the end of December, after which it is expected that no new proposal will be introduced. At its February meeting, the ARG will review all pending AIs and close those that will not make it into the amendment

In compliance with Resolution 44-4, the Rapporteur sent, on November 3rd, 2003, to the WG9 officers and Heads of Delegations a list of AIs intended for submission to WG9. The Rapporteur would like to remind everyone involved that they are expected to gather comments from their respective National Bodies or Organizations and forward them to the ARG. Companies or individuals participating in a National Body or Organization are *not* expected to communicate directly with the ARG.

In compliance with Action Item 43-1, Tucker Taft has prepared a report analyzing the interactions of constrained access subtypes and general access types. Tucker proposes the following resolution to the numerous issues he has identified:

Disallow the discriminant constraint on a general access type if the discriminants have defaults on the designated type, recheck in an instance and presume the worst in a generic body.
 
Disallow constraints on *all* access types declared outside the package defining the private type (presuming the private view has no visible discriminants), allocating space for unconstrained objects in the heap even when constraints are given in the allocator for such an access type, and setting the 'Constrained attribute False when dereferencing values of such an access type.

This technical report has been filed as AI95-00363 and will be discussed (as well as Tucker's proposed solution) by the ARG.

The ARG has its "usual" motion for the December meeting for approval of a series of AIs. See the list below and Resolution 45-9. A pointer to retrieve the AIs is included.

The Rapporteur proposes the following list of members for the ARG: Baird, Baker, Barnes, Brukardt, Burns, Dewar, Dismukes, Duff, Ishihata, Leroy, Michell, Ploedereder, Rosen, Schonberg, Taft, Tokar. See Resolution 45-2.

The cited AIs can be retrieved from the ACAA Web Site for AIs.

Amendment AIs:

AI95-00218-03/03 2003-10-21 -- Accidental overloading when overriding
AI95-00252-01/06 2003-10-23 -- Object.Operation notation
AI95-00297-01/06 2003-07-01 -- Timing events
AI95-00317-01/04 2003-10-23 -- Partial Parameter Lists for Formal Packages
AI95-00321-01/04 2003-07-02 -- Definition of dispatching policies
AI95-00328-01/02 2003-07-15 -- Add preinstantiations of Complex_IO
AI95-00347-01/02 2003-10-23 -- Title of Annex H
AI95-00348-01/05 2003-10-23 -- Null procedures
AI95-00353-01/02 2003-10-23 -- New Restrictions identifier, No_Synchronous_Control

No Normal AIs.

Discussion

The recommendations of the ARG Rapporteur for the membership of the ARG were accepted. There was discussion concerning the AIs. France explained that it would vote against AI95-00252. Other nations expressed concerns about AI95-00297 and AI95-00348.

Through discussion, a consensus was reached that 297 and 348 should be referred back to the ARG for further review.

Resolutions [ Resolution 45-9 ] [ Resolution 45-2 ]

[Agenda]


Report of ASIS Rapporteur Group, Currie Colket (Rapporteur)

Background WG9 N417: Charter of the ASIS Rapporteur Group (ASISRG)
Prior Discussion

From Minutes of Meeting #41 [N400]:

ASIS RG is considering the preparation of a New Work Item Proposal to revise and extend ASIS to keep pace with Ada 2005. The ASIS RG may reconsider some of the design goals for the specification.

From Minutes of Meeting #42 [N409r]:

Currie Colket reported that the ASIS RG has begun planning for the development of amendments to the ASIS standard in coordination with the planned amendment to the Ada standard. Steve Blake cannot continue as project editor; however, he has agreed to continue serving until a replacement is found.

Report The ASIS RG met on Wednesday, 10 December 2003. The ASIS RG proposes that Greg Gicca should replace Steve Blake as one of the editors of the ASIS standard for Ada 2005.
Discussion A resolution was drafted to nominate Gicca as editor.
Resolutions [ Resolution 45-2 ] [ Resolution 45-4 ]

[Agenda]


Report of Annex H Rapporteur Group, Alan Burns (Rapporteur)

Background WG9 N416, Charter of the HRG
Open Items

Resolution 45-5:

WG9 authorizes the convener to forward N426 (with editorial corrections) [TR for Ravenscar Guide] to SC22 for approval as a New Work Item. The convener is also authorized to attach N424 (with editorial corrections) to the NP with a request for concurrent registration as a PDTR.

Status: SC22 ballot on SC 22 N 3656, Revised Combined New Work Item Proposal and PDTR Registration Letter Ballot for a Technical Report, Guide for the use of the Ada Ravenscar Profile in High-Integrity Systems, closes on 11 December 2003.

Prior Discussion

From Minutes of Meeting #40, [N389]:

The HRG ... discussed the continuing role of Annex H of ISO/IEC 8652. They discussed the desirability of changing its title to High-Integrity rather than Safety and Security. The HRG might recommend that the fourth section of Annex H should be reworked to better fit with the recently completed TR 15942. They also considered tracking the usage of relevant pragmas implemented by various vendors. 

It is understood that the HRG may work with the University of York or other institutions in obtaining material that might be incorporated into a Technical Report. 

From Minutes of Meeting #43 [N418]:

HRG met in October and finalized the Ravenscar Guide. We await WG9 acceptance of Ravenscar AIs to complete our Guide. This will then be published as a University of York report and offered to WG9 as a Technical Report.

The procedure for treating the NWIP will be to attach the draft report to the NWIP and ask for immediate PDTR Registration.

Email from Alan Burns, 15 May 2003:

Now that the Ravenscar report has been completed and `published' by York [N424], I guess we would still like it to become an ISO technical report.

I think, going on what you said before, this needs a new work item [N426].

From Minutes of Meeting #44, [N428]:

The HRG met in October at York University. A paper regarding guidelines for the use of the Ravenscar profile was published. It will be submitted to be processed as an ISO/IEC Technical Report.

The HRG met again on June 16 to discuss possible changes to Annex H. It concluded that the title of the annex should be changed from "Safety and Security" to "High Integrity Systems."

The HRG Rapporteur was asked to summarize why the title should be changed. He replied that "High Integrity" has become the accepted name for this category of issues; there is nothing in the annex related to security; and the current contents are broader than safety. Feedback on the proposed name change was favorable. The HRG will submit an AI to change the name.

The Convener noted that the draft Technical Report will be attached to the New Work Item for concurrent PDTR registration. The New Work Item calls for a Type 3 Technical Report -- a document that is inherently unsuited for standardization.

It was noted that any typographical errors in the Report should be fixed prior to submission.

Report Nothing new to report.
Discussion

There was brief discussion of the membership of the HRG and it was decided that the current membership would be continued pending recommendations from the HRG Rapporteur.

So far, there have been no suggestions for substantive change in the report providing guidance on the usage of Ravenscar. If no comments come from the ongoing concurrent NP and PDTR registration ballots, then the document will be forwarded as is for PDTR approval ballot.

Resolutions [ Resolution 45-2 ] [ Resolution 45-5 ]

[Agenda]


Project Editor Maintenance Reports

[Agenda]


Project Editor Maintenance Report, ISO/IEC 8652

Document Status

ISO/IEC 8652:1995 Information Technology--Programming Languages--Ada, 22.10.01, Randy Brukardt and Erhard Ploedereder, Project Editors, supported by the Ada Rapporteur Group.

ISO/IEC 8652:1995/COR.1:2001, Technical Corrigendum to Information Technology--Programming Languages--Ada, 22.10.01, Randy Brukardt and Erhard Ploedereder, Project Editors, supported by the Ada Rapporteur Group.

Project Status

Working Draft, 8652:1995/AMD.1, Randy Brukardt and Pascal Leroy, Project Editors, supported by the Ada Rapporteur Group

The request for subdivision [N388] of Project 22.10.01 was endorsed by WG9 Resolution 40-7 [N389], and approved by SC22 N3310 on 2001-09-12.

Prior Discussion

From Minutes of Meeting #43 [N418]:

Draft 3 of the Amendment document is available at the ACAA Web Site. This document includes all of the AIs approved by the ARG as of the Bedford meeting; thus it is a snapshot of a work-in-progress rather than a finished document in any way.

Work on the accompanying integrated Ada Reference Manual is proceeding slowly due to a lack of funding. Some work has been accomplished, but much more remains to be done. At this time, priority is being given to developing the proposals over editorial presentation of them.

From Minutes of Meeting #44: [N428]:

Another draft of the amendment was posted in March. The content includes anything approved by the ARG (even if not yet approved by WG9.) There have been no updates to the ARM because of lack of funding. It is important to do this to make sure that there are no errors in integrating the amendment into the base standard. When the Corrigendum was developed, some errors were discovered at this stage.

There was some discussion of the advisability of updating the rationale. Leroy suggested that books may be more useful to end users than the rationale. Taft suggested that we may not have to produce as many products for end users -- perhaps some existing paper and other products could be combined. A web site might the appropriate vehicle.

Ploedereder suggested that individual rationale articles, devoted to specific issues, could be published in the Ada Journal. They could then be collected in a book.

The schedule for the amendment includes: WG9 approval of scope in spring 2004 and approval of the wording of the amendment in spring 2005.

Written Report None
Discussion

Regarding the schedule for the amendment, the ARG Rapporteur said that the ARG will distribute a list of AIs, probably in the spring of 2004, so that they can be approved at the June 2004 meeting of WG9. Thus, approval of scope of the amendment will be accomplished by approving such a list of AIs at that WG9 meeting.

Pascal is willing to take an action item to prepare a short document explaining how the AIs relate to one another.

[Agenda]


Project Editor Maintenance Report, ISO/IEC 13813 and 13814

Document Status

ISO/IEC 13813:1998, Information Technology--Programming Languages--Generic Packages of Real and Complex Type Declarations and Basic Operations for Ada (including Vector and Matrix Types), 22.10.04, Don Sando and Ken Dritz, Project Editors

The standard addresses the Ada 87 language. WG9 plans to incorporate the substance of this standard in the Amendment to ISO/IEC 8652:1995. WG9 has recommended that the 1998 standard be confirmed during the period while the Amendment is under preparation.

ISO/IEC 13814:1998, Information Technology--Programming Languages--Generic Package of Complex Elementary Functions for Ada, 22.10.05, Jon Squire and Ken Dritz, Project Editors

WG9 has voted to withdraw this standard by year-end 2004. (The action awaits approval by JTC1.) The standard addressed the Ada 87 language and is effectively replaced by the 1995 language standard.

Open Items
Resolution 40-6:

ISO/IEC JTC1/SC22/WG9 recommends to SC22 that the following Standard be confirmed when it reaches the end of its five-year review period: 

  • ISO/IEC 13813:1998 Generic packages of real and complex type declarations and basic operations for Ada (including vector and matrix types) 

ISO/IEC JTC1/SC22/WG9 recommends to SC22 that the following Standard be withdrawn when it reaches the end of its five-year review period: 

  • ISO/IEC 13814:1998 Generic package of complex elementary functions for Ada 

Status: OPEN. The recommendations above were endorsed by SC22 Resolution 01-07 at their September 2001 plenary meeting. They have been forwarded to JTC1 for approval (during 2003) and implementation by ITTF (during 2004). JTC1 unexpectedly voted to confirm 13814. The SC22 Secretariat is conducting a ballot to ask JTC1 to reconsider.

Report None
Discussion  None

[Agenda]


Project Editor Maintenance Report, ISO/IEC 15291

Document Status ISO/IEC 15291:1999, Information Technology--Programming Languages--Ada Semantic Interface Specification (ASIS), 22.15291, Steve Blake and Clyde Roby, Project Editors, supported by the ASIS Rapporteur Group.
Open Item

Resolution 45-7:

ISO/IEC JTC1/SC22/WG9 recommends to SC22 that the following Standard be confirmed when it reaches the end of its five-year review period:

  • ISO/IEC 15291:1999, Information Technology--Programming Languages--Ada Semantic Interface Specification (ASIS)

Status: SC22 endorsed this recommendation at its September 2003 plenary. The request has been forwarded to JTC1.

Prior Discussion

From Minutes of Meeting #44: [N428]:

It was decided to confirm the standard for now although eventual revision is desired. It was reported that Clyde Roby is willing to remain as co-editor.

Report As noted previously, Greg Gicca was nominated by the ASIS RG to replace Steve Blake as project editor.
Resolution [ Resolution 45-4 ]

[Agenda]


Project Editor Maintenance Report, ISO/IEC TR 15942

Document Status ISO/IEC TR 15942:2000, Guidance for the Use of Ada in High Integrity Systems, 22.15942, Brian Wichmann, Project Editor, supported by the Annex H Rapporteur Group.
Open Items

ISO/IEC JTC1/SC22/WG9 requests that SC22 request JTC1 and any other appropriate bodies to take action to ensure that ISO/IEC TR 15942 be made freely available on a web site. 

Status: CLOSED. All approvals have been received and TR15942 is now included in the web site of publicly available standards

Report None
Discussion None
Resolution None

[Agenda]


Project Editor Maintenance Report, ISO/IEC 18009

Document Status ISO/IEC 18009:1999, Conformity Assessment of an Ada Language Processor, 22.18009, Erhard Ploedereder, Project Editor, supported by the Ada Rapporteur Group.
Open Item

Resolution 45-6:

ISO/IEC JTC1/SC22/WG9 recommends to SC22 that the following Standard be confirmed when it reaches the end of its five-year review period:

  • ISO/IEC 18009:1999, Conformity Assessment of an Ada Language Processor

Status: SC22 endorsed this recommendation at its September 2003 plenary. The request has been forwarded to JTC1.

Report None
Discussion In response to a question, the project editor noted that ISO/IEC 18009 included a great deal of material from other ISO/IEC standards on this subject.

[Agenda]


Liaison Reports


Report of Ada-Europe Liaison Representative, Erhard Ploedereder

Background Ada-Europe is a Category C Liaison to WG9 [See N414]
Report None
Discussion None

[Agenda]


Report of SIGAda Liaison Representative, Currie Colket

Background SIGAda is a Category C Liaison to WG9 [See N414]
Prior Discussion

From Minutes of Meeting #43 [N418]:

Clyde Roby made a presentation on a method to deal with APIs. Clyde's presentation will be posted on the WG9 web site as N419.

There were some comments regarding the assurance that SIGAda has the proper rights to republish the artifacts. Erhard noted that an API may be an Ada binding to an implementation in another language or a standalone Ada implementation. Jim noted that "Stamp of Approval" concept might lead to anti-trust problems. "Choosing or Judging" would be an antitrust problem. This should be done under WG9 auspices.

Erhard noted that there should be a long-term program to collect APIs; and a short-term program to select some APIs into Ada 200Y. Make sure that this is clear to participants. Only a few will be selected for the Ada Amendment.

From Minutes of Meeting #44 [N428]:

Clyde Roby reported on the formation of a SIGAda API WG at WG9's last meeting. This work is proceeding. Information has been posted to a web page. Material from previous groups is being gathered. They are starting work on CGI and XML interfaces. XML seems to be active also. Some issues remain regarding licensing. API WG will be formally approved soon.

SIGAda is looking at an organization to provide comments on WG9 documents. They should collaborate with the convener and the Ada-Europe liaison representative on a procedure for doing this. Comments must be vetted and formed into a consistent position. It was noted that comments on technical documents are generally unwelcome at the WG9 level and should be submitted at the Rapporteur Group level. The convener suggested that the liaison organizations might want to designate formal representatives to the RGs.

Report None
Discussion

Clyde Roby (SIGAda APIWG Chair): There was a meeting of the APIWG. One of the major subjects was the method for progressing APIs toward standardization. There is a desire to develop the APIs outside the standardization groups so that they can be developed quickly and then transpose them into the standardization process, perhaps as TRs. There may be something to submit by summer.

SIGAda Representative: We had previously mentioned that AIs might be circulated to the liaisons for review. SIGAda is ready to receive them when appropriate.

[Agenda]


Committee of the Whole

Ada Compiler Conformity Assessment

France reported that AdaLog is a candidate to become an ACAL. Randy Brukardt (who is the ACAA) said that John Squire (UMBC) had expressed interest in becoming an ACAL but has not initiated the process.


Unfinished Business

None

[Agenda]


New Business

The Use of Technical Reports for APIs [Tabled by France]

For this topic, Alan Burns presided over the meeting because the convener wanted to participate in the discussion. In the notes below, the convener is identified as "Jim".

France: WG9 should use TRs to adopt specifications for APIs because the process is faster than standardization.

Jim: The difficulty of using TRs is that the process for this has as much weight as for creating a standard - total amount of time is the same. He does not perceive any advantage over the IS process. Jim suggests the International Workshop Agreement (IWA) process--one meeting or a series of meetings that creates results. ISO instantly publishes this/these as a Workshop agreement. Within a 6-year time period, this can be placed into the ISO process and even fast-tracked into an international standard at some point in the future. There were questions regarding Intellectual Property Rights when Jim first brought this up in the past, especially for APIs. Thus, simply write into the Workshop Proposal's IWA the intent to have it under the auspices of SIGAda or Ada-Europe and that this organization would publish the results of the workshop so that people could use them. Furthermore, the workshop proposal could stipulate that users are allowed to copy the APIs for use. This is a much faster way to get an ISO-labeled result to the public, and then it would be a relatively quick way to standardization if that was the way to go.

France: Although he mentioned TR, it really doesn't matter if it's IWA results. His concern was that ISO standards could only refer to other ISO standards until recently. Evidently, this rule has recently gone away. There are cases where TR is more appropriate and there are definitely cases where IWA is the best solution.

ARG Rapporteur: It will take years for API specs to be reviewed and included in the standard. Currently, there is no real consensus on some of these APIs.

Tucker Taft (USA): Note that Ravenscar came out of a workshop. It quickly came to consensus even though there has been some improvements since then.

Italy: It took 18 months from nothing to having Ravenscar pretty well defined. It's taken longer to get Ravenscar profiles into the standard.

ARG Rapporteur: Is there a way under IWA to refine the proposal?

Jim: There could be a series of workshops and thus a series of results. Within the 6-year period could then settle on what you would like to move forward to be an ISO TR or IS.

SIGAda Representative: We may have an opportunity to try this out--there are at least 3 APIs for CGI. Thus, we might have a workshop to determine what the resulting API to CGI would be. Then the IWA mechanism could be used for updating the CGI API.

France: What's really important is that vendors pick these up and deliver implementations of these APIs with their compilation systems.

Ed Schonberg (observer) noted that this is really up to customers.

France's concern is that there are (might be) some AIs that would propose certain APIs and thus the ARG would respond that it would be considered but that the ARG would do no further action, but that some outside body would define such an API.

ARG Rapporteur: we currently have several AIs that fall in this category. How should the ARG handle these? Should these be sent to WG9 saying that these are candidates for this lightweight process?

Jim drafted a resolution on the subject [ Resolution 45-6 ]. After some rewording it was tabled to be voted on later in the meeting.

The SIGAda Representative suggested that CGI might be a candidate API for this process.


First day of the week? [Tabled by Germany]

Germany: ARG has been inundated with several emails about what the first day of the week should be in the enumerated type - should it be Sunday or Monday? It's a technically easy solution, but this is a cultural issue. Factually, there is an ISO standard that says that the week starts on Monday; it also says that the first week of the new year contains the first Thursday of the year. If the week starts on Monday, then you can subset the weekend since Saturday and Sunday will be at the end of the enumeration type.

8652 Editor: He started the AI with Sunday since it was convenient to him. He contacted US person about the ISO standard and he replied saying that Monday should be the first day of the week. The current draft of the AI now says Monday.

Tucker Taft (USA): Suggested that we go with ISO's results (ISO 8601).

The convener drafted a resolution to this effect [ Resolution 45-7 ]. After some discussion and rewording, it was tabled to be voted later in the meeting.

[Agenda]


Administrative Actions

Action:

We appreciate the comfortable accommodations provided by SIGAda. The resolution expresses WG9's gratitude.

[Resolution 45-10]

Action:

We appreciate the services of the meeting Secretary. The resolution expresses WG9's gratitude.

[Resolution 45-11]

Action:

We appreciate the continuing services of the WG9 Web Master. The resolution expresses WG9's gratitude.

[Resolution 45-12]

Action:

According to the JTC1 Directives, Rapporteur Groups serve from meeting to meeting of the parent body. The following resolution continues the existing RGs and appoints their membership until the next meeting of WG9.

[Resolution 45-2]

[Agenda]


Review of New Action Items

Action Item 45-1  (ARG Rapporteur): When the list of AIs describing the scope of the amendment is circulated for comment, the ARG Rapporteur will also provide a short document explaining how the various AIs relate to each other.

In addition, Action Item 43-1 has now been closed.

[Agenda]


Final Consideration of Resolutions

All resolutions were approved unanimously except as noted.

Administration

Resolution 45-1:

The minutes of Meeting #44 as contained in document N428 are approved.

[Discussion] [Agenda]

Resolution 45-2:

ISO/IEC JTC1/SC22/WG9 continues its three Rapporteur Groups until the next plenary meeting and expresses its grateful appreciation to the Rapporteurs and members for their continuing service. The following are continued as Rapporteurs:

The membership of the ARG is appointed follows: Steve Baird (SIGAda), Ted Baker (SIGAda), John Barnes (UK), Randy Brukardt (Editor, ISO/IEC 8652 Amd), Alan Burns (HRG Rapporteur), Robert Dewar (USA), Gary Dismukes (USA), Robert Duff (USA), Kiyoshi Ishihata (Japan), Pascal Leroy (Rapporteur), Steve Michell (Canada), Erhard Ploedereder (Germany), Jean-Pierre Rosen (France), Ed Schonberg (USA), Tucker Taft (USA), and Joyce Tokar (USA).

The membership of the ASIS Rapporteur Groups is appointed as follows: Currie Colket (Rapporteur), Dan Cooper (SIGAda), Greg Gicca (SIGAda), Clyde Roby (Editor, ISO/IEC 15291), Sergey Rybin (Russia), Bill Thomas (SIGAda), and Joyce Tokar (USA).

The membership of the Annex H Rapporteur Group is continued.

The Convener of WG9 is authorized to act for WG9 between meetings in appointing additional members of Rapporteur Groups. In doing so, he shall consult with the Rapporteur and the National Body or Liaison Organization designating the member.

Rapporteurs are instructed that they may permit other individuals to observe the deliberations of the Rapporteur Group. The naming of observers and the extent of participation permitted to observers are at the discretion of the Rapporteur with the concurrence of the membership of the Rapporteur Group.

[Discussion] [Agenda]

Resolution 45-3:

WG9 schedules future meetings as follows:

[Discussion] [Agenda]

Resolution 45-4

WG9 nominates Greg Gicca to serve as project editor of ISO/IEC 15291, replacing Steve Blake, and requests the convener to forward the nomination to SC22 for approval.

[Discussion] [Agenda]

Work Programme

Resolution 45-5:

WG9 delegates to its HRG the authority to perform comment disposition on the New Work Item proposal ballot for the Ravenscar Guide as well as its PDTR registration ballot, and to revise the draft document appropriately. The convener of WG9 is authorized to review the comment disposition, determine if consensus has been achieved on the disposition of the comments and the revision of the document, and forward the resulting draft for PDTR approval balloting.

[Discussion] [Agenda]

Resolution 45-6

WG9 endorses the use of Technical Reports, International Workshop Agreements, or other light-weight documents to record and publish agreements on API definitions, while retaining the possibility for eventual international standardization. The ARG is requested to nominate AIs to be treated in this manner.

[Discussion] [Agenda]

Resolution 45-7

WG9 provides direction to the ARG for dealing with issues regarding the enumeration of the days of the week. WG9 directs the ARG to regard Monday as the first enumeration literal of the type. For related issues, the ARG is directed to consult ISO 8601.

[Discussion] [Agenda]

[There is no resolution 45-8.]

Resolution 45-9

WG9 approves the following AIs as written by the ARG, subject to their final editorial correction by the ARG, for incorporation into the planned Amendment to ISO/IEC 8652:

[NOTE: Dates and version numbers must be corrected.]

AI95-00218-03/03 2003-10-21 -- Accidental overloading when overriding
AI95-00252-01/06 2003-10-23 -- Object.Operation notation
AI95-00317-01/04 2003-10-23 -- Partial Parameter Lists for Formal Packages
AI95-00321-01/04 2003-07-02 -- Definition of dispatching policies
AI95-00328-01/02 2003-07-15 -- Add preinstantiations of Complex_IO
AI95-00347-01/02 2003-10-23 -- Title of Annex H
AI95-00353-01/02 2003-10-23 -- New Restrictions identifier, No_Synchronous_Control

The following AIs are referred back to the ARG for further review:

AI95-00297-01/06 2003-07-01 -- Timing events
AI95-00348-01/05 2003-10-23 -- Null procedures

[France noted that it would have voted to reject AI 252 if a separate vote had been offered.]

[Discussion] [Agenda]

Appreciation

Resolution 45-10:

ISO/IEC JTC1/SC22/WG9 expresses its grateful appreciation to SIGAda for their gracious accommodations in hosting Meeting #45.

[Discussion] [Agenda]

Resolution 45-11

ISO/IEC JTC1/SC22/WG9 expresses its grateful appreciation to Clyde Roby for serving as Secretary of Meeting #45.

[Discussion] [Agenda]

Resolution 45-12:

ISO/IEC JTC1/SC22/WG9 expresses its grateful appreciation to Clyde Roby for his continuing service in maintaining the WG9 Web Page.

[Discussion] [Agenda]


Adjournment

The meeting is adjourned at 11:41 am.

[Agenda]


References

WG9 Documents

N388, Request for Subdivision of Project ISO/IEC 8652:1995

N389, Minutes, Meeting #40 of ISO/IEC JTC1/SC22/WG9, Friday, 18 May 2001, Leuven, Belgium

N400Minutes, Meeting #41 of ISO/IEC JTC1/SC22/WG9, Friday, 5 October 2001, Bloomington, Minnesota, USA

N404Working Draft, Revision of ISO/IEC 13813

N405, Recommendation on ISO/IEC 13813 from the UK

N406, Procedures of the Ada Rapporteur Group

N409r, Minutes, Meeting #42, ISO/IEC JTC1/SC22/WG9, Friday, 21 June 2002, Vienna, Austria

N412, Instructions to the Ada Rapporteur Group from SC22/WG9 for Preparation of the Amendment to ISO/IEC 8652, 10 October 2002

N414, Notification of Approval of Category C Liaisons between SC 22/WG 9 and Ada-Europe and SIGAda

N416, Charter of the Annex H Rapporteur Group (HRG)

N417, Charter of the ASIS Rapporteur Group (ASISRG)

N418, Minutes, Meeting #43, ISO/IEC JTC1/SC22/WG9, Friday, 13 December 2002, Houston, Texas, USA

N419, SIGAda's Approach to the Management of Ada Bindings to Application Program Interfaces (APIs), Clyde Roby, SIGAda, Presented to ISO/WG9, December 13, 2002

N423, Convener's Comments on Instructions to the Ada Rapporteur Group from SC22/WG9 for Preparation of the Amendment to ISO/IEC 8652, December 2002

N424, University of York Technical Report YCS-2003-348, Guide for the use of the Ada Ravenscar Profile in high integrity systems

N426, Proposed New Work Item, Guide for the use of the Ada Ravenscar Profile in High-Integrity Systems

N428r, DRAFT Minutes, Meeting #44 of ISO/IEC JTC1/SC22/WG9, 20 June 2003, Toulouse, France

N429, Working Draft for PDTR Registration, Guide for the use of the Ada Ravenscar Profile in High-Integrity Systems

N430, Convener's Report, 2003, ISO/IEC JTC1/SC22/WG9 (Ada)

N431, Meeting Report, ISO/IEC JTC1/SC22, 15-19 September 2003, Oslo, Norway

N432, Announcement and Draft Agenda, Meeting #45 of ISO/IEC JTC1/SC22/WG9, Friday, 12 December 2003, San Diego, CA, USA

N433, Detailed Agenda, Meeting #45 of ISO/IEC JTC1/SC22/WG9, Friday, 12 December 2003, San Diego, CA, USA

External Web Sites

ISO Web Site: http://www.iso.ch/

ITTF Web site of publicly available standards: http://isotc.iso.ch/livelink/livelink/fetch/2000/2489/Ittf_Home/PubliclyAvailableStandards.htm. (Click on "Proceed to Public Areas". No username or password is required.)

JTC1 Web Site: http://www.jtc1.org/

SC22 Web Site: http://www.open-std.org/jtc1/sc22/

WG9 Web Site: http://www.open-std.org/jtc1/sc22/wg9/

ACAA Web Site: http://www.ada-auth.org/

ACAA Web Site for ARG Minutes: http://www.ada-auth.org/arg-minutes.html

ACAA Web Site for AIs: http://www.ada-auth.org/cgi-bin/cvsweb.cgi/AIs/

ACAA Web Site for Amendment: http://www.ada-auth.org/amendment.html

Ada-Europe Web Site: http://www.ada-europe.org/

Ada-Europe 2003 Conference Web Site: http://www.irit.fr/AdaEurope2003/

SIGAda Web Site: http://www.acm.org/sigada/

SIGAda 2003 Conference Web Site: http://www.acm.org/sigada/conf/sigada2003/

[Agenda]


End of Document