jon@oblio.UUCP (Jon Steinhart) (03/08/85)
The least painful method of obtaining information on GKS, language bindings, VDI, VDM, etc. is to become a member of ANSI X3H3, the graphics committee. This costs about $75 a year and you'll get more graphics standards paperwork than you ever thought possible for your money. Barry Shepherd at IBM Austin is the X3H3 Secretariet and can probably help you out. You can also call CBEMA headquarters in New York (I think). Here's the status of things so far: GKS is very close to being an approved American National Standard; I believe that there's one vote to go. I am the original author of the C binding. It is being processed by ANSI X3H34, the language bindings subcommittee. I have recently had to give up editorship of the document due to the necessity of earning a living. Also (my opinion here), the result of committee processing of the binding has resulted in a document that bears little relationship to current practice in the language (end of opinion). I do not believe that anyone is actively working on the binding at this time. Mel Slater of BSI (British Standards Institute) is the author of the PASCAL binding. X3H34 is commenting on the binding to ensure that the result will be acceptable as an ANSI standard. The BASIC language committee (number unknown) is doing the BASIC binding. There's been some friction between the BASIC and GKS committees, the result being that the BASIC binding doesn't really conform to GKS. Geri Cuthbert of Harris, Inc. in Melbourne, Florida had done the ADA binding. It will go out for public review if it passes a vote that is currently in progress. VDI and VDM are being handled by ANSI X3H31, a subcommitte of X3H3. The TLA's are being changed to CGI and CGM. I'd like to close with a little sales pitch on standards. A lot of people use standards, and a lot of people complain about them. ANSI standards are generated by a volunteer organization. I would encourage all who have an interest in using standards to join a standards committee, at least in observer status. A lot of the confusion in standards results from the shortage of qualified manpower. Don't complain if you're not willing to help. Jon Steinhart Counterpoint Computers, Inc. ANSI X3H3 The opinions expressed here are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my employer, American National Standards, or my cats.