In article <9AvM6.252978$o9.37721138@typhoon.tampabay.rr.com>, Scott
Robert Ladd <scott@coyotegulch.com> writes
>For many programmers, the Standards process is a mystery. Information is
>available online, but people I've talked to have no idea where to *start*
>becoming involved.

Involvement is basically simple, most countries make standards meetings
open but often place some control over who can actually vote rather than
just contribute. I guess that I should leave the NCITS rules to Steve
Clamage but in the UK we have two general channels (and discretion to
vary from them)

Any UK resident can attend our panel meetings (bottom layer where the
real work is done) though courtesy requires that you ask the convenor
first (contact: Lois Goldthwaite <loisg@ospace.demon.co.uk> ) That is
all that we require on that side, your time and that you pay your own
travel etc.

Because this is not easy for everyone (travel distances, awkward
employers who think they pay you to work for them etc.) we have an
alternative which is to join ACCU (actually, strictly speaking that is
optional) at 15ukp and make an annual contribution (of at least 20ukp to
the fund for supporting standardisation of C++ (C and other related
standards) managed by ACCU. In return for that direct material support
you can apply to the relevant convenor(s) (see above for C++) and become
an accredited UK participant with equal access to information (i.e.
those reflectors, site privileges etc.) that are available to people who
attend in person.

>
>Could someone (or someones) from the ISO C++ committee (and from various
>national bodies) provide pointers to becoming involved in the next C++? I
>have a reasonably solid notion of how the process works, but that's come
>from reading this newsgroup for several years... lots of people need some
>sort of "quick introduction to making an international standard."
>
>If such a document doesn't exist, I'd be more than happy to research and
>write such a piece, with the aid of this newsgroup.

I think that would be a valuable service to the programming community.
Perhaps those who know the workings of their own NB could contribute
information on how their fellow citizens can become involved. I am sure
ACCU would be happy to provide access (link or home) to such a piece. As
editor of C Vu, I would be happy to publish in hard copy as well.


Francis Glassborow      ACCU
64 Southfield Rd
Oxford OX4 1PA          +44(0)1865 246490
All opinions are mine and do not represent those of any organisation

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I forgot to point people to the existing comp.std.c++ FAQ, which has a nice
section on involving oneself with the standards process:

http://www.research.att.com/~austern/csc/faq.html#PartB

--
Scott Robert Ladd
Master of Complexity, Destroyer of Order and Chaos
http://www.coyotegulch.com



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For many programmers, the Standards process is a mystery. Information is
available online, but people I've talked to have no idea where to *start*
becoming involved.

Could someone (or someones) from the ISO C++ committee (and from various
national bodies) provide pointers to becoming involved in the next C++? I
have a reasonably solid notion of how the process works, but that's come
from reading this newsgroup for several years... lots of people need some
sort of "quick introduction to making an international standard."

If such a document doesn't exist, I'd be more than happy to research and
write such a piece, with the aid of this newsgroup.

Back in August of 1999, in a discussion on numerical programming, Steve
Clamage said to me:

SC> We had only one person on the C++ committee who was expert in
SC> numerical programming, and his employer withdrew support for
SC> his continuing on the committee after a relatively short time.
SC> With no one on the committee having sufficient expertise, and with
SC> no support from organizations that might have wanted good
SC> numerical support in C++, there was little we could do.

SC> That is, you don't want amateurs defining numerics, and we had
SC> no competent professionals available. We asked. No one came.

As a developer of process-intensive number-crunching applications, I think
it's time I got involved in the official standards process -- and I know
other people who'd like to have their views reflected in the next standard
as well. Perhaps some background on what "involvement" entails would be
helpful, too... how much travel, what the responsibilities are, how much it
costs, etc. Pointers to web-hosted documents would be useful, as would
expressions personal experience.

Thanks in advance.

--
Scott Robert Ladd
Master of Complexity, Destroyer of Order and Chaos
http://www.coyotegulch.com


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