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From: ForthNet@willett.pgh.pa.us (ForthNet articles from GEnie)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.forth
Subject: ANS FORTH TECHNICAL COMMITTEE
Message-ID: <1933.UUL1.3#5129@willett.pgh.pa.us>
Date: 28 Oct 90 01:24:37 GMT
Organization: String, Scotch tape, and Paperclips.  (in Pgh, PA)
Lines: 84

Category 10,  Topic 2
Message 244       Sat Oct 27, 1990
D.RUFFER [Dennis]            at 00:38 EDT
 
                    Scope of Work for X3/J14

The purpose of this resolution is to outline the scope of work for this TC. 
It is based upon the project proposal adopted by X3J14/005.  The intent is to
present an outline of the significant steps to be followed to achieve an
acceptable standard which will result in broad compliance among all major
vendors of Forth language products, with minimum adverse impact upon
transportability from existing systems in use.

The scope of work for X3/J14 shall encompass the following:

1.     Identification and evaluation of common existing practices in
 the area of the Forth programming language.  This shall include
 the following:

a.     Identification of all producers of Forth language programming systems
with a distribution in excess of 200 users.

b.     Evaluation of Forth implementations distributed by these producers with
respect to the FORTH-83 standard, to identify the primary areas of non-
compliance.  Areas in which most producers are in compliance, or in agreement
on a concept outside of the scope of the FORTH-83 Standard, will be considered
to be "accepted practice".

c.     Public solicitation from these producers as well as other sources
represented on the TC of specific problem areas within the FORTH-83 Standard,
and recommendations for change.  Problem areas are areas of accepted practice
where producers' implementations vary.  Problem areas specifically do not
include concepts new to Forth intended to improve perceived deficiencies in
Forth as defined by accepted practice, unless deemed indispensable to the
production of a coherent standard.

2.     Evaluate proposed modifications to the FORTH-83 Standard
 resulting from Item 1c above, addressing the following areas:

a.     Arithmetic and logical operators

b.     Flow-of-control structures

c.     Input and output operators

d.     Memory and mass storage operators

e.     Exception handling

f.     Vectored execution

g.     Compiler extension operators

h.     Data description operators

i.     ROM-based applications

j.     Any other areas that emerge from the study as representing
 significant problem areas.

3.     Proposed modifications to FORTH-83 shall be deemed unacceptable
 if they result in significant variance from "accepted practice"
 as identified in Item 1b above, or if the proposed definition
 is outside the standards of clarity and unambiguity required of
 an ANS.

4.     Once an ANS Forth has been approved, the TC may address
 proposed standards for language extensions beyond the scope of
 item 1 above.  Areas in which such extensions may be considered
 include data base support and graphics.  Other extensions will
 doubtless emerge, and may be considered at the discretion of
 the TC following approval of ANS Forth.

5.     The TC may review existing and proposed standards for other
 languages.

6.     The TC will consider areas in which the BASIS document or accepted
practice is in conflict with modern hardware characteristics.

7.     The TC will primarily consider one's and two's complement
architectures.
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