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Historical Notes on ISO Standardization

Contents

Historical ASIS Standardization Schedule

 
     Dec 93   AJPO  recommends ASIS V1.1.0 (ASIS 83) be used as
	      interface to Ada 83 Program Library
     Mar 94   Design Goals for ASIS 95 identified
     Jun 94   ASISWG finalizes ASIS 83 as V1.1.1 with test suite
     Jun 94   Evaluate design approaches for ASIS 95
     Nov 94   Finalize approach for ASIS 95
     Nov 94   Categorize outstanding ASIS 83 deferred issues
     Nov 94   Proposed KINDS for ASIS 95
     Feb 95   ASIS Home Page on WWW established 
              http://www.acm.org/sigada/wg/asiswg

     Mar 95   Finalize ASIS 95 Kinds
     Mar 95   Provide ASIS 95 in Skeleton format
     Mar 95   Organize ASIS 83 Deferred Issues and Current Issues
  28 Apr 95   ASISRG created unanimously by ISO/IEC JTC1/SC22 WG9

     Jun 95   Approved initial ASIS 95 Element_Kind Type Hierarchy
     Jun 95   Approved changes to ASIS 83 to produce ASIS 95 draft
	      standard
     Jun 95   Defined ASIS terminology
     Jun 95   Approved new library/environment model

     Oct 95   Prototype demonstration of ASIS for GNAT
     Nov 95   Public Review of ASIS 95 initiated (Version 2.0.E)

     Feb 96   ISO/IEC JTC1/SC22 approved New Work Item (NWI)
     Feb 96   ASIS available for GNAT Ada 95 compiler
     Mar 96   ASISRG vote to submit ASIS 95 as ISO Working Draft

     May 96   ISO/IEC JTC1 approval of NWI - ASIS assigned
              ISO number 15291
     Jun 96   ASIS-for-GNAT prototype available for GNAT Ada 95 Compiler
     Jun 96   ASIS draft Working Draft submitted to WG9 for comments

     Dec 96   First complete ASIS 95 implementation demonstrated
	      by DDC-I at Tri-Ada'96
     Dec 96   ASIS Working Draft submitted to WG9 for 60-day ballot

   1 Mar 97   WG9 ballot on ASIS closes
              (6 Affirmative, 1 Abstain, 0 Negative)
   1 May 97   Disposition of Comments delivered to WG9

   2 Jun 97   WG9 unanimously approves Disposition of Comments
   2 Jun 97   WG9 unanimously approves ASIS to SC22 for ballotting
  23 Aug 97   ASIS to SC22 for Registration as ISO CD, CD Ballot, and
              CD Final Ballot
  12 Sep 97   SC22 balloting process begins

   9 Mar 98   SC22 approves CD Registration and Final CD Ballot
              (14 Approve, 0 Disapprove, 4 Abstain, 5 Not voting)
   1 Jun 98   Submission of DIS and Resolution of Comments to JTC1
  12 Jun 98   Approval of Disposition of Comments and Draft FDIS by WG9
  31 Jul 98   Delivery of ASIS 2.0.R to SC22 for JTC1 FDIS Ballot
  15 Sep 98   Commencement of JTC1 FDIS Ballot
  15 Nov 98   JTC1 ASIS FDIS Ballot Due
   8 Dec 98   ISO approves ASIS as ISO Standard
     May 99   ASIS available as ISO/IEC 15291:1999

Notes on the ISO Standardization Process

 According to the new ISO rules, the typical ISO standardization process looks like:

There is approximately 2 months between each of these stages for mailing and miscellaneous administrative activities. The first WG9 Resolution authorizes the submission of ASIS to SC22 for Registration as a CD. This ballot addresses scope issues. The Ballot for CD Registration will commenced shortly after the SC22 meeting held on 18-22 August 1997 in Ottawa, Canada.

There can be [theoretically] an infinite number of CD Ballots, with each iteration resolving technical issues until SC22 is happy with the document. The second WG9 Resolution authorizes the WG9 Convenor to combine the first 2 steps, thus saving approximately 5 months in the standardization process.

When ready, a Final CD Ballot is authorized. A successful FCD Ballot results in registration as a Draft International Standard (DIS) when the FCD comments have been resolved. The third WG9 Resolution authorizes the submission of ASIS to SC22 for a combined CD Registration, CD Ballot, and FCD Ballot. Combining these steps resulted in a saving of about 10 months in the standardization process.

After a successful FCD Ballot, there is a 2-month pass/fail FDIS Ballot. DISs passing the FDIS Ballot become International Standards (IS); those failing are sent back to committee and must start the CD Registration process all over again.

WG9 Unanimously Approves Disposition of Comments
ASIS to SC22 as Working Draft for Ballotting Milestone

The WG9 Ballot for ASIS closed in March 1997. ASISRG received 90 editorial comments in response to the ballot and 57 technical comments. Those approved by ASISRG were incorporated into ASIS Version 2.0.N and along with our Disposition of Comments were submitted to WG9 on 2 June 1997. There were several options available to the WG9 Convenor. The following 3 ASIS-related resolutions were voted on by the nations present: Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States:

RESOLUTION: The disposition of comments on the ASIS Working Draft ballot is approved by WG9 and the Project Editor of project 15291 is authorized to forward Version 2.0.N of the draft to the SC22 secretariat for CD registration. [Passed: 8 Affirmative; 0 Abstain; 0 Negative].

RESOLUTION: WG9 authorizes Convener, in his judgment, to combine CD registration and CD ballot. [Passed: 8 Affirmative; 0 Abstain; 0 Negative].

RESOLUTION: WG9 authorizes Convener, in his judgment, to combine CD registration and CD ballot and Final CD ballot. [Passed: 7 Affirmative; 0 Abstain; 1 Negative].

SC22 Approves ASIS for Concurrent Registration
as Committee Draft (CD) and Final Committee Draft (FCD)

On 12 September 1997, The ASIS Working Draft was submitted to ISO/IEC JTC1/SC22 for the concurrent ballot for both the CD Registration and the CD Final Ballot; the deadline for ballots is 9 March 1998.

We are very pleased to inform you that the ASIS Specification had a successful ballot. Fourteen nations voted to Approve FCD 15291. These nations included: Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Egypt, Finland, France, Ireland, Japan, Netherlands, Norway, Russian Federation, UK, Ukraine, and USA. [Switzerland is not an SC22 P nation, so was unable to vote]. Four nations Abstained and five nations did not vote. There were no ballots voting to Disapprove.

WG9 Unanimously Approves Disposition of Comments
to SC22 as Final Draft International Standard (FDIS)

 ASIS became an officially registered Committee Draft on 9 March 1998. Two nations provided comments, Japan and the USA. The Japanese comment was editorial and became C#105. The USA comments were editorial comments or technical issues already raised by the ASISWG/ASISRG since ASIS 2.0.P was circulated last fall. The Editorial Comments resulting from SC22's Ballot are numbered from C#093 through C#105. The Technical Issues are numbered from #082 through #093. Please see results of SC22 Ballot. The Disposition of Comments (also available as a Word document or a Postscipt file) was unanimously approved by WG9 at their meeting on 12 June 1998. Only one more Ballot, the Final DIS (FDIS) Ballot, is needed to turn ASIS into an ISO Standard. The resulting ASIS version 2.0.R was submitted to the SC22 Chair on 31 July 1998 for the FDIS Ballot.

The official ISO status for ISO/IEC 15291 can be found on the list of ISO publications: http://www.iso.ch/cate/35060.html

ASIS Approved as an ISO/IEC Standard

 ASIS was approved to be an International Standard by the Final Draft International Standard (FDIS) Ballot which closed on 8 December 1998. It was published in May 1999 as:
ISO/IEC 15291:1999 Information technology — Programming languages — Ada Semantic Interface Specification (ASIS)
The ASIS Standard is available via the ISO Catalog at http://www.iso.ch/infoe/catinfo.html; the ASIS specific reference is located at http://www.iso.ch/cate/d27169.html.

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Last update 14 May 1999. Questions, comments to Clyde Roby (CRoby@IDA.Org)