(j3.2006) Materials for 199

[Van Snyder]

On Tue, 2012-09-18 at 20:44 -0700, Van Snyder wrote:

> The simpler scheme I have in mind is to provide for definition of
> parameterized or "abstract" subprograms, which cannot be invoked
> directly....

I don't know whether this meets Malcolm's "really**7 simple" criterion;
maybe it's only "really**4 simple."  I've put together a description of
abstract subprograms and how they're used.  It's in the format of a TR,
complete with the repetitive top-down development.

Counting cover page, frontispiece, ISO boilerplate, introduction,
foreword, it's 14 pages.

There are almost four pages of narrative description, and just over
three pages of draft edits.

My estimate that it would add fewer than five pages to the standard
appears to have been an over estimate.  It looks like fewer than two,
because it introduces only a few new ideas, and exploits mechanisms and
concepts we already have in place.  If the examples in the paper are put
into Annex C in the standard, that would add one more page.

During F08 development, at least at the beginning, we had a 010 document
that listed paper numbers for specs, syntax and edits.  This quickly
became irrelevant, as we dribbled in pieces of features a screw here, a
rivet there, some bubble gum, some duct tape....  It might make for more
coherent development if we kept a coherent "project" paper for each
feature until we are quite convinced it's complete, as we would for a
real TR or TS, but without the ISO boilerplate.  The 010 document would
list the current version.  Each version should list the paper numbers of
previous versions in a "history" section.  This precludes frequent
revision of 007, unless the champions for features agree to go through
accumulated edits and update them when it comes time to put the feature
into 007.

If projects interact we could insert UTI's in all of those that
interdepend upon one another, so as not to forget integration issues.


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