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- From: jdv@forth.org (J. D. Verne)
- Newsgroups: comp.lang.forth,comp.answers,news.answers
- Subject: comp.lang.forth FAQ: ANS Forth (7 of 7)
- Supersedes: <forth-faq-7-960119042@forth.org>
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- Date: Tue, 04 Jul 2000 11:43:06 GMT
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-
- ANS Forth: The Standardisation Process
-
- Peter J. Knaggs, 3 July 1999
-
- Please send omissions or corrections to Peter Knaggs <pjk@bcs.org.uk>.
-
- Table of Contents:
-
- [1] What is the Current Status?
- [2] Are there any Web Site?
- [3] Are there any discussion groups?
- [4] Where can I purchase the standard?
- [5] What is being revised?
- [6] When does the TC meet?
- [7] How do I make a proposal?
- [8] Who is on the Technical Committee (TC)?
- [9] How can I join the TC?
- [10] What are Technical Groups?
- [11] What is the ANSI Process?
- [12] What is the ISO "Fast Track" Process?
-
- Search for [#] to get to section number '#' quickly. Please note that
- each section is in "digest" form so cooperating NEWS/MAIL readers can
- step through them easily.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: [1] What is the Current Status?
-
- On the 25th September, 1998, the NCITS agreed to the J14 Technical
- Committee's request for reactivation, thus changing the status of the
- Technical Committee from Maintenance to Active.
-
- The next meeting will be November 22-23 at the Hampton Inn in Seaside,
- CA (see [6] for details). The TC will conduct most of its bussness on
- the ansforth mail-list (see [3] for details).
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: [2] Are there any Web Site?
-
- Greg Bailey of ATHENA Programming, Inc., keeps the ANS Forth Web Page at:
-
- <file://ftp.uu.net/vendor/minerva/uathena.htm>
-
- The NCITS (National Committee for Information Technology Standards)
- keeps an official web site at:
-
- <http://www.ncits.org/tc_home/j14.htm>
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: [3] Are there any discussion groups?
-
- General discussion and comment on the standard should be directed though
- the usenet news group:
-
- <comp.lang.forth>
-
- A separate mail list has been established for more formal announcements,
- comments, and questions. All mail sent to this mail list will be
- distributed to all subscribers (including all members of the Technical
- Committee) and archived for further reference. Mail should be sent to:
-
- <ansforth@minerva.com>
-
- Subscription and unsubscription request should be sent to:
-
- <ansforth-request@minerva.com>
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: [4] Where can I purchase the standard?
-
- There are two different version of the standard:
-
- ANS Forth - American National Standard Forth (document
- "X3.215-1994, Programming Language Forth") can be purchased
- from:
-
- Global Engineering Documents, Inc.
- 15 Inverness Way East
- Englewood, CO 80112-5704
-
- 1-800-854-7179 (within USA)
- 303-792-2181 (outside USA)
-
- The final draft of the standard is available from the ANS Forth
- web page.
-
-
- ISO Forth - The document "ISO/IEC 15145:1997 Information technology --
- Programming languages -- Forth" can be purchased from
- your local national standards organisation.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: [5] What is being revised?
-
- The Technical Committee voted to revise the ANS Forth standard with a
- limited agenda:
-
- (a) Withdrawal of "obsolescent words"
-
- (b) Ratification of "clarifications"
-
- (c) Support for embedded and ROMable systems
-
- (d) Support for internationalisation and extended characters
- sets
-
- (e) Clarifications to the Standard, with the proviso that
- proposals will be considered under this item that clarify
- the language of the Standard to reflect the original intent
- of the TC, without making a substantive technical change.
-
- Note the (c) & (d) were requested by the ISO Fast Track process. The
- committee is not obligated to consider proposals falling outside this
- agenda without first voting to extend it. This requires a 2/3 vote of
- the Committee.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: [6] When does the TC meet?
-
- While the committee is revising the standard, they plan to meet twice a
- year:
-
- June, coinciding with the Forth Institute's meeting.
-
- November, coinciding with the FORML meeting.
-
- Members of the TC are required to attend one in every three meetings. The
- meetings have been arranged such that attending one a year is sufficient
- to retain membership of the Technical Committee.
-
- The following meetings have been arranged:
-
- 22-3 November '99
- Hampton Inn, Seaside, CA.
- To coincide with the Forth Modification Laboratory.
- Note that this is expected to be the final meeting.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: [7] How do I make a proposal?
-
- Anyone can make a proposal. The proposal should first be discussed on
- the ANS Forth email list (See <a href="#3">[3]</a>) and attempt to gain
- consensus on the ideas to the maximum extent possible.
-
- After this a formal proposal must be drafted and submitted to
- electronically by sending plain (7-bit ASCII) text or Word files to the
- Chair at <j14-chairs@minerva.com>. You may also submit a proposal via
- mail by sending it to:
-
- J14 Technical Committee,
- c/o FORTH, Inc.,
- 111 N. Sepulveda Blvd,
- Manhattan Beach,
- CA 90266, USA;
-
- All proposals must conform to the following criteria:
-
- a) Consists of specific wording changes or additions to the document,
- rather than statements of policy.
-
- Bad form: Add DEFER and IS
- Good form: Add the following to the {specified} wordset:
- {specific definitions, edited so as to be readily
- pasted into the document in the right place}
-
- b) Include a rational for the change, including a citation of common
- practice in which the proposed technology has been proven.
-
- c) Fit within an approved agenda item (see [5]), or must include a
- rationale why it should be considered; this must be sufficiently
- urgent that 2/3 of the membership will vote to add an agenda item for
- it.
-
- We suggest proposals should provide information in the following
- headings:
-
- Title - One line summary of the proposal.
- Justification - Justification for consideration of the proposal.
- Problem - Description of the problem the proposal is
- attempting to resolve.
- Proposal - The proposed alteration to the current working draft
- of the standard. This should give the page and the
- text you wish to delete and/or add.
- Typical Use - Examples of how you envisage the proposed technology
- being used.
- Remarks - Additional comments, implementation comments,
- side-effects, etc.
- Experience - Examples of current practice, experiences with
- the proposed alteration.
- Comments - Comments of support from others.
-
- The proposal must be submitted to the Chair with a message indicating
- that it is a formal proposal for the consideration of the committee.
-
- Upon receipt, the proposal will be examined by the committee chairs. If,
- in their opinion, it meets the above criteria it will be assigned a
- proposal number and circulated to the members of the committee for their
- consideration. It is also posed on the ANS Forth web site (See [2]). If,
- in the opinion of the chairs, the document does not meet the criteria
- they will discuss possible changes with the author that will improve it
- to the point where it can be accepted. Rejection by the chairs can be
- appealed to the committee. The committee can overrule the chair's
- decision by an 80% vote of those voting, provided the total vote
- constitutes a quorum of the voting membership of the committee.
-
- Further processing of the proposal will occur after receipt of a second
- to the proposal from a member other than the proposal originator. The
- second must be posted to the ANS Floor. After a period of time not less
- than one week the chair may, at its discretion, declare that the proposal
- had died for lack of a second and remove the proposal from active
- consideration.
-
- After a proposal has been seconded the author may make further revisions
- until the end of the comment period. Others wishing to have the proposal
- modified should first discuss the proposed changes with the author and on
- the ANS Forth maillist. If the author does not accept the changes and the
- person offering the changes wishes to have the committee take formal
- action on them, the changes should be submitted to the Chairs as a formal
- amendment to the proposal. The chairs will publish notice of having
- received the proposed amendments, they will be posted to the FTP site,
- and there will be a period of one week during which any voting member of
- the committee can offer a second to the proposed amendment. Upon receipt
- of a second there will be a period of two weeks at the end of which the
- amendment will be either accepted or rejected by a majority vote of those
- voting on the amendment.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: [8] Who is on the Technical Committee (TC)?
-
- The current membership roster for the Technical Committee is maintained
- by Greg Bailey (as Vice Chair) and is available at:
-
- <ftp://ftp.minerva.com/pub/x3j14/misc/j14-mem.htm>
-
- The list of TC Officers is available at the bottom of the J14 Current
- work page at:
-
- <ftp://ftp.minerva.com/pub/x3j14/j14-cur.htm>
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: [9] How can I join the TC?
-
- Anyone can join the Technical Committee.
-
- While the committee is active (from now, until the committee finishes
- its work and deactivates again) prospective members should attend at
- least two out of three successive meetings. A representative shall
- attend the first of these meetings as an observer and reaffirm interest
- in the work of the committee. Membership becomes effective with
- attendance at one of the next two successive meetings and the payment
- of a $300 administration fee.
-
- Membership shall be terminated under the following conditions:
-
- (1) Failure to pay any service fee within the specified period (normally
- an annual $300 administration fee);
-
- (2) Failure to attend two out of three successive meetings, in which case
- the membership shall be terminated if the member fails to attend the
- next meeting;
-
- (3) Failure to return 80% of the total letter ballots (non-accelerated)
- closing during the present calendar quarter, in which case the
- membership shall be terminated if the member fails to return at least
- 80% of the total letter ballots (non-accelerated) closing during the
- subsequent quarter.
-
- When the committee deactivates again (after it has completed its current
- work) applications for membership should be sent to the Chair
- <j14-chairs@minerva.com>. Membership becomes effective after the second
- letter (eMail) ballot. Members will lose their membership by failure to
- respond to three successive ballots, or failure to pay any service fee
- within the specified period.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: [10] What are Technical Groups?
-
- The TC may convene Technical Groups (TG) to look into areas where there
- is no consensus of "common practice" within the community. The Technical
- Group is a sub-group of the TC given a specific mission, whose product is
- a "Technical Report." A TR doesn't have the official standing of a
- Standard, but can serve as a basis for implementations for some years
- until the technology has matured sufficiently for a standard.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: [11] What is the ANSI Process?
-
- The ANSI process requires that four-years after the standard has been
- approved the standard may be revised, reaffirmed, or withdrawn.
-
- The Technical Committee receive a number of proposals to change the text
- of the ANS Forth document, which they will vote on. When the TC are
- happy with the revised document it is published as a draft report for
- public comment. The TC must then review the comments and either publish a
- new draft or submit the draft for approval by the NCITS. It can take a
- year between the TC submitting a draft for approval and the standard
- being published.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: [12] What is the ISO "Fast Track" Process?
-
- Once the ANSI standard has been published, it can be submitted to the ISO
- for adoption as an international standard. This circumvents the need for
- a separate ISO Forth committee.
-
- For ISO to adopt the ANS Forth standard requires a two-thirds majority of
- ISO voting members. All no votes are supported by technical comment.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Peter Knaggs <pjk@bcs.org.uk>
-