[Numeric-interest] Fortran-2008 public review

[David Hough 754R work]

The following from Van Snyder to IFIP working group chairs
was circulated on the 1788 mailing list:

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In your capacity as an IFIP WG chair, I wish to alert you and the
members of your WG to the impending call for public review of the
2008 draft standard for Fortran.  I would appreciate it if you
were to forward this message to your members.

I invite you and the members of your WG to review that draft and
provide comments on it, as it relates to the scope and aims of
your WG and your own personal interests.

Many contemporary computer scientists were taught by their
professors that Fortran is an obsolete language, but in fact
Fortran has been modernized continuously, with revisions of the
1966 standard published in 1977, 1990, 1995 and 2003.  Fortran
now includes many if not most of the features demanded of a
modern programming language, as well as unique features targeted
at the problems of efficient, accurate and reliable numerical
software, while preserving customers' enormous investment in
programs written in conformance with earlier standards, and
preserving the Fortran tradition of allowing compilers to produce
high-quality optimizations.

To keep abreast of current developments in computer science,
however, Fortran (like any other programming language) needs
continuous development.  The next revision after 2008 is
scheduled for 2013.  Requirements will probably be solicited next
year.

I therefore invite you and the members of your WG to participate
in Fortran standardization.  More strongly, I urge your
participation, because both the US ANSI and ISO committees are
becoming dominated by a small number of compiler vendors, who
primarily seek stability (that is, lower investment in
development) and anti-trust protection.  The needs of users, that
is, what you might have to say if only you were to say it, are
only a secondary concern to vendors.

If you live or work in the United States, or work for a
US-domiciled corporation or the US government, no matter where,
you are eligible to join the US ANSI committee.  Otherwise, you
can be appointed as a non-voting alternate to a member, and in
any case you should join (or form or re-form) the Fortran
interest group in your country.  I can put you into contact with
representatives (or former representatives) of committees from
Austria, Britain, Canada, Finland, France, Japan, Germany, The
Netherlands, Russia or Sweden.

Visitors are always welcome at meetings of both the US ANSI and
ISO Fortran committees, the next of which (a joint meeting) is
scheduled for 4-8 May in Las Vegas.  To have an official voice at
an ISO meeting, however, it is required to be appointed to the
delegation (or to form the delegation yourself) of one of the
participating countries.  This needs to be done through your
national standards body.

For further information, see http://j3-fortran.org (US ANSI
committee) or http://ftp.nag.co.uk/sc22wg5 (ISO committee).

The most recent working draft, which will soon be superceded, is
available as http://j3-fortran.org/doc/year/09/09-007.pdf.  Look
for the next draft in the same place as file 09-007r1.pdf.  There
might be one more draft after that one before submission for
public comment and Final Committee Draft ballot, but even now
things are nearly cast into concrete.

Of course, I would be happy to answer any questions you might have
about Fortran standards or Fortran standard committees.

Best regards,
Van Snyder
IFIP WG 2.5, US ANSI/INCITS/PL22.3, ISO/IEC JTC1/SC22/WG5
van.snyder at jpl.nasa.gov
+1-818-354-6271