rex@aussie.UUCP (Rex Jaeschke) (04/26/89)
A few weeks ago an announcement was posted re the formation of NCEG.
Here's a progress status report.
Numerical C Extensions Group (NCEG) Status Report
=================================================
The meeting proposed for May 10-11 at Cray Research is definitely on.
The response to my paper mailing and postings to various newsfeeds
was encouraging with some 20+ people expressing their intent to be at
that meeting. Another 10-20 people expressed support and asked to be
kept informed of the group's progress. As of April 25, the attendee
list (in alpha order of company) is as follows:
Analog Devices - Kevin Leary
Apple - Jim Thomas
Argonne Labs - Cody
BRL (US Army) - Mike Muuss
CDC -
Computer X -
Convex -
Cray - Tom MacDonald + one or more Cray customers
DEC - Randy Meyers
HP - Walter Murray
IBM - Larry Breed
Information and Graphic Systems - Mike Branigan
Intermetrics - P.J. Plauger
Journal of C Language Translation - Rex Jaeschke (convener)
MasPar Computer Corporation - Peter Christy
Polaroid Microelectronics - William Vetterling
(coauthor of Numerical Recipes [in C])
Pyramid - Wendy Thrash
Stellar - Peter Darnell
Sun -
Supercomputers - either Chuck Rasbold or Kelly O'hair
Unisys - Don Bixler
UofMN - Prof. Patrick Powell
AT&T (not confirmed)
LLNL (not confirmed)
Plum Hall - Tom Plum (not confirmed)
Those wanting to be kept informed include: Solbourne, TI, and the
Free Software Foundation.
Proposed Meeting Agenda
-----------------------
(Please bring a hard-copy of this to the meeting if you plan to
attend)
Item 2 will set the tone for the rest of the technical agenda. The
topics suggested in sessions 4-8 are simply my educated guesses at the
hottest issues. We will modify the agenda as agreed to at the meeting.
Tom MacDonald has requested time to present his latest revision for
adding complex arithmetic and this has been accommodated on the second
day. Tom will have copies at the meeting. If you wish to distribute
technical proposals please bring at least 25 copies to the meeting.
Call me before the meeting if you think you'll need agenda time for
specific issues.
Wednesday May 10
9:00 -- 10:30 Session 1 ----------------------------------------
1. Opening activities
1.1 Welcome
1.2 Goals and purpose of the meeting
1.3 Host facilities
1.4 Introduction of participants
1.5 Procedures for this meeting
2. Discussion of Agenda (this meeting and long-term)
Prioritize technical issues as: Now, later, sometime, too hard.
Identify primary and alternate focal point person
for each main issue.
Identify related standards and prior art.
10:30 -- 10:45 Morning break
10:45 -- 12:15 Session 2 ---------------------------------------
3. Discussion of Agenda (continued)
12:15 -- 2:15 LUNCH
2:15 -- 3:45 Session 3 -----------------------------------------
4. IEEE Issues
4:00 -- 5:30 Session 4 -----------------------------------------
5. Vector/Parallel Issues
6. Living with Fortran - calling, shared libraries, etc.
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Thursday May 11
9:00 -- 10:30 Session 5 ----------------------------------------
7. A proposal to add complex arithmetic to C -- Tom MacDonald (Cray)
10:45 -- 12:15 Session 6 ---------------------------------------
8. General library issues
11:15 -- 12:15
9. Administration
9.1 Summary of decisions reached
9.2 Action items committed to
9.3 Future of NCEG as a group and/or long-term affiliation
9.4 Future meeting schedule - date, location, host
9.5 Mailings and submission procedures
9.6 Other business
9.7 Adjournment
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Host for NCEG Meeting #2
------------------------
Being optimistic I have tentatively arranged for the next NCEG meeting
to be held in conjunction with ANSI C X3J11 in Salt Lake City, Utah.
X3J11 meets on September 21-22 with NCEG on September 19-20 for one
and a half or two days. This eliminates the need for separate travel
expenses for those planning to attend both meetings.
DEC's user group DECUS is hosting that X3J11 meeting and since NCEG is
not currently affiliated with a recognized standards body, DECUS will
not host our meeting as well. The expected cost of hosting NCEG for
two days is about $900. This includes the meeting room, morning and
afternoon catering for 25 people, and A/V equipment.
Right now, the meeting room reservation is under my name, however, I
can assure you I will not be paying for it - I'm only a 1-man
operation and my contributions are taking other forms. I need to
exercise my option within 1-2 weeks after the May 10-11 meeting to
guarantee the facility. Please check with your management to see if
you can offer to underwrite all or part of this cost. I can arrange
to split it two (or perhaps even three) ways. I would very much like
a commitment by the end of the May meeting.
Lack of formal affiliation problems
-----------------------------------
At least one major vendor has expressed concern about the lack of a
formal standards affiliation. It seems their legal department forbids
employees from participating in any forum that could conceivably be
construed as an attempt by one group of companies to do something
proprietary. Issues of antitrust and monopolies raise their heads. Now
while my intent was to make NCEG a truly public forum this problem
must be faced, and soon, since companies with such policies otherwise
will not be providing input we need. Their participation can only
allow us to do a better job.
Becoming affiliated is not a bad idea. Certainly, it's much easier to
adopt existing voting rules, etc., than it is to invent our own. Also,
if we can eventually publish a Technical Bulletin for the ANSI C
Standard (for example) specifying numerical extensions, it will carry
more weight with the industry.
Before coming to the meeting find out what your company's policy is in
this regard.
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I look forward to meeting you in beautiful Mendota Heights, MN in May.
Rex Jaeschke, Convener - April 25, 1989
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Rex
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Rex Jaeschke | C Users Journal | Journal of C Language Translation
(703) 860-0091 | DEC PROFESSIONAL |1810 Michael Faraday Drive, Suite 101
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