BCS FORTRAN SPECIALIST GROUP

        The next meeting of the Group will be held on Thursday

29 June 1989 from 10.30am to 4.30pm at BCS HQ, 13 Mansfield

Street, London.

        This is the last meeting of the Group before the

important WG5 meeting in Ispra, the X3J3 meeting in Vienna, and

the final public review period of Fortran 88 begins. The

morning will be normal business including a report from the

recent X3J3 meeting in New York. It is also hoped to make

arrangements for our last Fortran Forum on Fortran 88.

        The afternoon session will commence with a talk from

Mike Gunn, the convener of the Fortran on PC's sub-group.

This is the presentation of the work over the past year that

Mike was unable to give at Oxford. However, it is unfair to

expect Mike to talk for 2 hours so there will be other

speakers to tell us of their experiences using Fortran on

PC's and of the particular 'brand' of Fortran they use. If

you would like to share your experiences with us please do

come along. There is no need for a formal presentation as

the intention is to make the afternoon informal. Among the

speakers who have said they will talk is Carol Hewlett from

the LSE and David Butland from Bradford University.

        Please bring this notice to the attention of any col-

leagues likely to be interested: we particularly welcome

newcomers to the Group whether members of BCS or not.

Click here for the minutes of this meeting. Links below are to specific
sections of the minutes.

AGENDA

10.30 am   1.    Apologies for absence

           2.    Minutes of the last meeting

           3.    Matters arising

           4.    Report from X3J3 Representative

           5.    Fortran Forum 1989

           6.    BCS and any other business

2.00 pm          "Fortran on PC's"

                 Mike Gunn - University of Surrey.

                 Carol Hewlett - LSE

                 David Butland - Bradford University

John Young, Secretary.

Tel: 0734 814111 Ext 6292.

BRITISH COMPUTER SOCIETY

FORTRAN SPECIALIST GROUP

  JUNE 1989 NEWSLETTER

BCS FSG TWENTIETH YEAR

Member David Muxworthy has informed us that in 1990 the

Group will be 20 years old. It was decided at the April AGM

that an appropriate celebration will be organised for the

AGM next April. However, the first meeting of the Group

actually took place on Tuesday, 6th January, 1970 to

"Discuss the formation of a Specialist Group for the FORTRAN

language: standards, restrictions, and recommended

extensions". Member Peter Holland who attended this first

meeting was also at the AGM in Oxford.

THE FORTRAN 88 STANDARD

The Group commends the tremendous efforts made by its

members involved in the work of the Standards Committees

X3J3 and WG5. This time last year it became apparent that

there was the possibility of having no new standard, or even

two standards. The deadlock has only been resolved by an

enormous amount of hard work and compromise by a large

number of people. The Group congratulates everyone involved

in bringing Fortran 88 to fruition and passes on the heart-

felt thanks of all involved in Fortran.

  l989-l990 PROGRAMME

The officers of the Group have decided to arrange a pro-

gramme on a yearly basis with speakers booked well in

advance. This will relieve the Secretary John Young of some

of the administrative burden and hopefully create more

interest in the Group. With the imminent publication of the

Fortran 88 standard the Group will be able to offer a

greater variety of speakers as the Fortran world's interest

in standards takes a 'nose-dive' to 9y.

        The dates of the meetings for the year are:-

                Thursday, 29th June, 1989

                Thursday, 26th October, 1989

                Thursday, 25th January, 1990

                Thursday, 5th April, 1990