JTC1/SC22/WG14 N887

			Business Plan and Convener's Report
		ISO/IEC JTC1/SC22/WG14 (The Programming Language C)

Document: ISO/IEC JTC1/SC22/WG14 N887

PERIOD COVERED:
June 1998 - June 1999

SUBMTTED BY:
Convener, ISO/IEC JTC1/SC22/WG14
John Benito
Perennial, Inc.
3004 Mission Street #130
Santa Cruz, CA 95060
Phone:   +1 831 457 3915
Fax:     +1 831 457 3916
Email:   [email protected]

1. MANAGEMENT SUMMARY

1.1. JTC1/SC22/WG14 STATEMENT OF SCOPE
   Development and maintenance of ISO/IEC Standards related to the 
   programming language C.

1.2. PROJECT REPORT

1.2.1. COMPLETED PROJECTS

   None over this period.

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

   JTC1/SC22 N2794 was submitted to SC22 for FCD ballot, the ballot period 
   started on September 24, 1998, closing on January 12, 1999.  The 
   summary of voting can be found in document JTC 1/SC22 N2872 and 
   resolutions for the comments can be found in document JTC 1/SC22 WG14 N873.

   A document has been forwarded to JTC 1 for FDIS ballot.  

1.2.3. CANCELLED PROJECTS
   None over this period.

1.2.4. COOPERATION and COMPETITION
   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

2.1. MARKET REQUIREMENTS
   WG14 feels that it is responding to user community pressure and to 
   implementers concerns to revise the ISO/IEC 9899 standard to keep 
   current with today's programming trends and market.  The Committee 
   believes that 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 need to be considered 
   in the revised standard.  Most of these issues where not considered 
   during the technical discussions for the current ISO C Standard.    
   Please, see document ISO/IEC JCT 1/SC22 N2265 "Charter for the 
   Revision of the C Standard" for more details.  

2.2. ACHIEVEMENTS
   WG14 produced the ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC22.N2794 for FCD Ballot.  WG14 
   resolved all comments that the FCD ballot generated, see document 
   number ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC22 N2872 and ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC22 WG14 N873.  
   A document was generated and forwarded to JTC 1 for FDIS.  WG14 
   also worked on Defect Reports, keeping the Defect Report Log current.

2.3. RESOURCES
   WG14 meets three times per year in co-located technical sessions with 
   the US committee J11.  Ten 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, Japan, Netherlands, 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:
   Group		Name				Person assigned
   WG11		Language Independent Datatypes		Keld Simonsen
   WG15		Posix 					Keld Simonsen
   WG20		Internationalization			Keld Simonsen
   WG21		C++					John Benito

3. FOCUS NEXT WORK PERIOD
   WG14 will focus on new work items after the FDIS ballot closes.  The 
   Committee discussed several possible new work items, but has not 
   reached consensus on any item. Items identified:

   1. Architecture Support Extensions: DSP-C, etc
   2. Conformance
   3. Sequence Points
   4. Time

3.1. DELIVERABLES
   WG14 anticipates that the FDIS 9899 will be approved, giving the 
   C community a new Standard.

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

3.3. RISKS
   No problems are anticipated.

3.4. OPPORTUNITIES
   None.

3.5. WORK PROGRAM PRIORITIES
   WG14 will concentrate on the revision of 9899, however WG14 will 
   still respond to Defect Report logged for the current ISO/IEC 
   9899:1990 Standard, and any defect reports filed for the FDIS.

4. OTHER ITEMS

4.1. POSSIBLE ACTION REQUESTS AT FORTHCOMING PLENARY
   The Convener, J. Benito, first three-year term will be complete 
   in September.  Pending any approval needed by the US National 
   Body, a second term will be requested at the SC22 Plenary in Berlin.

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

4.3. PROJECT EDITORS
   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)

4.4. ELECTRONIC DOCUMENT DISTRIBUTION
   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.

4.5. RECENT MEETINGS
   23-27	Jun 1997	London, UK		BSI, Plum Hall Europe
   20-24	Oct 1997	Menlo Park, CA USA	ANSI, Sun Microsystems
   02-06	Feb 1998	Frisco, CO USA		ANSI, Keaton Consulting
   23-27	Jun 1998	Copenhagen, Denmark	Danish Standards
   05-09	Oct 1998	Santa Cruz, CA USA	ANSI, SGI/Cray
   01-05	Feb 1999	Portland, OR USA	ANSI, Intel Corp.
   21-24	Jun 1999	London, UK		BSI
4.6. FUTURE MEETINGS
   18-23	Oct 1999	Kona, HI USA		ANSI, Plum Hall
   nn-nn	Apr 2000	Tokyo, Japan		ITSCJ, NEC