in050392
Annual Report for:
J15
Covering
the Period from
Title
of INCITS Subgroup:
Links:
J15
web site: http://www.sysmaker.com/infopro/x3j15/
INCITS
page for J15: http://www.incits.org/tc_home/j15.htm
Other administrative
information
Informal Description of
Work:
The J15 committee is engaged
in the
process of maintaining the X3.238:1994 ANSI Standard for the
Programming
Language PL/B (Projects 662-M). PL/B is a modern business programming
language,
suitable for on-line interactive business processing in both
stand-alone and
networked environments. The PL/B Programming Language is currently in
use on a
wide variety of operating systems and hardware platforms, and is
supported by
many compiler companies, tool companies, and application programming
consultants.
Since its last J15 annual
report, the J15 technical committee has
reaffirmed by letter ballot the X3.238:1994 standard, previously
reaffirmed in
1999. J15 has not conducted any meetings
during the period of time covered by this annual report.
The committee is not considering any
revisions to this standard at this time.
2.
Significant Accomplishments
Since issuance by ANSI of
the Standard for PL/B, X3.238:1994, the
J15 Committee has not received any requests to interpret the Standard
and has
not discovered any items which require clarification or amendment in
the
Standard.
None.
None.
a. Previous Year’s
Meetings:
|
Meeting Number |
Date |
Location |
|
None |
|
|
b.
Next Year’s Planned Meetings:
|
Meeting Number |
Date |
Location |
|
None |
|
|
None.
a. Officers:
|
Position (and training date) |
Name and organization
represented |
|
Chair (trained |
Gary Raymond, Infopro Inc. 630-978-9231 /
gary@sysmaker.com |
|
Vice Chair |
Steve White, 903-881-0400 /
sales@sunbelt-plb.com |
|
Secretary |
|
|
International Representative |
|
|
Vocabulary Representative |
|
b.
Membership:
There are currently four
active J15
committee members:
http://www.sysmaker.com/infopro/x3j15/whomem.htm
Please note, two of these
members:
Customation and Horizon Information Systems have changed addresse and
phone
number since our last annual report.
8.
Future Trends and Related Technical Activities
[Reprinted from the 2002
annual report]
The J15 committee has
identified and discussed a number of trends
which will impact business software languages and standards
development. Some
of these trends have been partially addressed through enhancements
already
incorporated in our draft standard document for the PL/B Programming
Language.
Most trends listed here remain to be addressed in the future,
subsequent to our
present work in developing a first standard for PL/B.
|
a. |
GRAPHIC, CONTEXT SENSITIVE
INTERFACE: Business software is becoming more graphic and bit-map
oriented. Within just a few years from now, most software users will
expect programs to use windowing technology, graphical icons, pull-down
(or pop-up) menus, and pointing device (mouse, track-ball,
touch-screen, etc.). |
|
b. |
NETWORKS OF COMPUTERS
SHARING COMMON RESOURCES: The age of local area networks has come upon
us. Software languages will need to provide better facilities to
support common data access among disparate users attempting
simultaneous access. Ability to access and update data and perform
coordinated transactions needs to be supported by all future business
languages. |
|
c. |
UTILIZATION OF SQL: Business
software languages and application programs will be required to
interface to various databases through SQL. Without SQL, although
programs may be portable between hardware environments, it is doubtful
that they will be compatible with other programs written in different
languages, or accessing other databases. In the business world,
compatibility is far more important for a single data processing
installation and user of business software than portability (which
tends to be more important for software providers). SQL is rapidly
gaining popularity as a vehicle for providing both desired features. |
|
d. |
PARALLEL PROCESSING:
Tremendous opportunity exists within the near future to harness the
power of multiple processor computers. Currently, no ANSI business
programming language provides substantial means to make use of parallel
processing power within an individual program. Programming techniques,
and language constructs to support these techniques, need to be
developed to address this issue. |
|
e. |
INTERNATIONAL MARKET:
Business software languages need to support greatly expanded character
sets, expanded keyboard interactivity, and greater control over keyin
and echo back of characters. 7-bit ASCII and 8-bit EBCDIC are not
acceptable in the international market. For example, Hewlett-Packard
supplies its new DeskJet Plus printer with built in firmware for sets:
PC-8, PC-8 Denmark/Norway, |
|
f. |
DYNAMIC SOFTWARE MODULARITY:
With increasing sophistication of software and object orientation, it
is important for compiled languages to dynamically link to other
compiled software modules (perhaps written in different languages),
passing parameters and returning with values. Dynamic linking would be
performed at run time, not compile or link time. Software modules (or
objects) would become useful without need for users to have compilation
and linking programs. Software modules could be written in the most
appropriate programming language (adapted for dynamic linking) and
would contain information about passing parameters accessible to other
programs and modules at run time. Speed of dynamic linking would need
to be optimized to make this process fast. |
|
g. |
CLIENT / SERVER: Modern
computer software is increasingly tending toward a graphic user
interface and toward a client/server model of computing. These trends
facilitate easier training of personnel to accomplish sophisticated
tasks, and facilitate home office and remote computing. Programming
languages will need to provide better facilities to write effective
server facilities and graphical client programs. Future programmers
should not be required to rely on proprietary vendor products, but
should be able to utilize ANSI standard languages to quickly and
efficiently program portable client/server systems. |
|
h. |
INTERNET: Most new business
computer software development is now considering Internet
compatibility. The committee has recognized this trend and feels that
it is important |
9. Other Administrative
Information
None.