stt@inmet.inmet.com (03/20/90)
The Ada9X revision process is really just beginning. It is premature to claim what will and will not be part of the revision. We have received approximately 750 revision requests covering almost every aspect of the language. I consider this a sign of health, in that there exists a growing community of users who care enough to propose revisions. You can rest assured that there were requests for additional support of object-oriented programming, and that these requests are being considered seriously. Having surveyed the revision requests, a set of revision requirements are being developed, categorized according to perceived user need, implementability, upward compatibility, and general consistency with the existing language. These requirements will be handed over to the "mapping/revision" team to produce specific language change proposals, and ultimately specific reference-manual revisions. At the same time, roughly three funded user/implementor teams will help evaluate the language change proposals from the point of view of usability and implementability. In addition public reviews of the Ada9X progress will be scheduled at approximately 5 month intervals, starting this spring. Finally, in early 1992 an ANSI standardization canvass will begin. It is hoped that a new ANSI standard will be approved in late 1992 or early 1993. This approach to the revision of Ada is intended to ensure wide community involvement in the identification of limitations and/or opportunities in the existing language, while having a small cohesive mapping team to propose the actual language changes. S. Tucker Taft stt@inmet.inmet.com Ada9X Mapping/Revision Team Member Intermetrics, Inc. Cambridge, MA 02138