Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!wuarchive!hsdndev!cmcl2!adm!smoke!gwyn From: gwyn@smoke.brl.mil (Doug Gwyn) Newsgroups: comp.std.c Subject: Re: How Standards? Message-ID: <15882@smoke.brl.mil> Date: 18 Apr 91 05:47:12 GMT References: Organization: U.S. Army Ballistic Research Laboratory, APG, MD. Lines: 29 In article hagerman@ece.cmu.edu (John Hagerman) writes: >How does ANSI work? Can/will ANSI C continue to evolve? Is there any >point in my thinking about what I'd change in the language, or in >posting such thoughts here for comment? Is it possible for me to get >my thoughts into serious consideration with little pain? ANSI X3J11 is currently only in the business of interpreting the existing C standard, not drafting a new one. A revised C standard from ANSI is unlikely for the next several years. ISO SC22/WG14 is currently working on proposed "normative addenda" that would in effect modify the international C standard, which at the moment is technically identical to the ANSI C standard. It is highly desirable for such addenda to remain entirely compatible with the current standard, but anything could happen, given the politics involved and the fact that it's mostly a different set of people than the ones who prepared the original technical content (so some of the principles and reasoning that went into the current standard may not be known to the addendum workers; not all of that was captured in the Rationale document). However, the normative addenda are addressing specific technical areas and are not meant as a way to solicit random suggestions for changes to C. If you have some good ideas for improvements (hopefully not incompatible changes) to the language, try implementing them or suggesting them to implementors. For example, the Gnu C compiler supports numerous extensions beyond the standard. If there is enough favorable experience with the extensions when work begins toward a revised standard at some future date, then they might be adopted for the future standard. "But don't bother us now."