From mellis@vax.ox.ac.uk Wed Mar 1 13:24:38 1995 Received: from oxmail2.ox.ac.uk by dkuug.dk with SMTP id AA22651 (5.65c8/IDA-1.4.4j for ); Wed, 1 Mar 1995 14:24:48 +0100 Received: from vax.ox.ac.uk by oxmail2.ox.ac.uk. with SMTP (PP) id <11370-0@oxmail2.ox.ac.uk.>; Wed, 1 Mar 1995 13:24:54 +0000 Received: by vax.ox.ac.uk (MX V4.1 VAX) id 30; Wed, 01 Mar 1995 13:24:39 +0000 Sender: mellis@vax.ox.ac.uk Date: Wed, 01 Mar 1995 13:24:38 +0000 From: Miles Ellis To: sc22wg5@dkuug.dk Cc: mellis@vax.ox.ac.uk Message-Id: <0098CB60.44AA2D84.30@vax.ox.ac.uk> Subject: URGENT - Attendence at the Tokyo meeting, 17-21 April X-Charset: ASCII X-Char-Esc: 29 Dear WG5 members (and especially Heads of delegations), According to the information currently received by Hideo Wada only four countries are intending to send any delegation to the April meeting - namely the UK (4), the USA (2), Russia (1) and, of course, Japan. Since Russia's current status in SC22 is, apparently, only that of an Observer this means that only three P members of SC22 are planning to send any representative, and that, at present, only about ten members will be present in total (depending on the size of the Japanese delegation). THIS IS AN IMPORTANT MEETING. The main item on the agenda is a detailed examination of the draft CD for Fortran 95 which has been prepared by X3J3 according to the instructions it was given by WG5. The week after the Tokyo meeting X3J3 is meeting (in Maui!) to implement any changes requested by the Tokyo meeting, following which I shall submit the document to the SC22 Secretariat for a CD ballot. It is our intention to process the comments received from that ballot at the next meeting of WG5, which will take place in San Diego, 6-10 November, with X3J3 meeting in the same place the following week to incorporate the changes recommended by WG5. I then plan to conduct an informal ballot of WG5 members in (very) early 1996 to confirm that the edits have been made correctly, before submitting the document to the SC22 Secretariat for a DIS ballot. Under the new JTC1 rules, no changes (other than typos) are allowed after the DIS ballot without returning the document to WD stage (i.e. where we are now). This means that it is essential that the document produced in San Diego is the final document, and that all countries can vote with an unambiguous YES, (or, I suppose, a NO which all parties recognise cannot be addressed) since any changes will delay the process for a minimum of 18 months, which would severely impact the development of Fortran 2000 - to the extent that it could be the death knell for Fortran as a major language. Which brings me back to Tokyo. If the comments received during the CD ballot are to be satisfactorily resolved during a single meeting in San Diego then it is important that, as far as possible, the document that is being balloted on does not contain any serious flaws and, moreover, that no member body finds itself bringing up any new issues (as opposed to detailed edits) during the CD ballot. I WOULD, THEREFORE, URGE ALL THOSE COUNTRIES WHICH NORMALLY PARTICIPATE IN THE WORK OF WG5, BUT WHICH ARE NOT CURRENTLY PLANNING TO SEND A DELEGATION, TO TRY TO SEND AT LEAST ONE DELEGATE TO REPRESENT THEIR COUNTRY'S POSITION. If that really is not possible, then please ensure that I have a paper before the meeting which clearly sets out any difficult areas so that they can be addressed in Tokyo. (But it would be much better to send someone ;-) I would be extremely disappointed if any country did not attend the meeting, and did not give full details of any problems that it had to the meeting, and then raised these issues during the ballot. The clear intent of the new JTC1 procedures is to encourage participant countries to "put up or shut up", as we say in English - in other words to get everything of significance out in the open and dealt with BEFORE a CD, and especially a DIS, is balloted, rather than bringing up lots of new issues during the balloting process (as has happened with some languages in the past ;-) I am sorry about the sermon, but I am concerned that some countries which habitually have significant and constructive comments are not, apparently, planning any representation in Tokyo. If you can find a way to come, please do so; if you really can't, then please send me full details of any reservations you have or issues that might affect your national position so that they can be discussed and, if possible, dealt with by those members who are in Tokyo. Finally, whether any such contributions are sent to me personally or to the WG5 list, please ensure that they clearly indicate whether they represent a personal view or a national position. (According to the JTC1 Directives all individual contributions made to working groups should normally be in tune with their National Body position and, moreover, WG members should always indicate whether their views, as expressed, represent NB positions or personal opinions. During a meeting this is usually pretty obvious, but in the case of written submissions it is important to know!) I do hope to see more of you in Tokyo than currently seems likely. Miles Ellis Acting Convenor - WG5 ***************************************************************************** * * * From: Miles Ellis * * Director: Educational Technology Resources Centre * * University of Oxford * * 37 Wellington Square, Oxford OX1 2JF * * * * Telephone: +44 865 270528 Fax: +44 865 270527 * * Email: Miles.Ellis@etrc.ox.ac.uk * * * *****************************************************************************