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| PRESENT: | Mr J. Gatehouse (Convenor) |
| | Mr B. H. Shearing |
| | Mr D. T. O'Leary |
| | Mr J. P. Holland |
| | Mr L. I. Brown |
| | Mr A. J. Payne |
| | Mr K. O. Hallinan |
| | Mr A. D. Johnson |
| | Mr R. Butchart |
| | Mr I. A. G. Snowball |
| | Dr A. Colin Day |
| | Mr P. Bradly |
| | Dr A. H. De Borde |
| | Mrs B. Swann |
| | Dr I. C. Pyle |
| | Mr K. Normington |
| | Mrs M. M. Barritt (Secretary) |
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The meeting was arranged by Mr Gatehouse.
Mr Gatehouse explained how the impetus to convene the meeting had arisen.
His own company (G.E.C./English Electric) were considerably expanding their
use of FORTRAN and so had started to look at what standards might be laid down,
in doing so they became aware that there was no forum for the exchange of
information on standards news, proposals and requirements in the United Kingdom.
It was suggested to Mr Gatehouse that it would be appropriate to form a
specialist group of the British Computer Society for the FORTRAN language.
The purpose of this meeting was to explore what support might be expected
for such a proposal.
It was agreed that a specialist group should be formed.
Mr Gatehouse was invited to be Chairman and Mrs Barritt to be Secretary.
Mr Gatehouse accepted the nomination for a year and Mrs Barritt accepted, with
the reservation that her location in Scotland would support having a second
secretary nominated with residence in England. It was further suggested that
the second secretary, Mr Bradley, could always conveniently act as Vice-Chairman
for the first year. The main aim of these arrangements was to avoid any
meetings being held up due to difficulties experienced in travelling in adverse
weather conditions.
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| FORMALISING OF OBJECTIVES |
A discussion on formalising the objectives of the group took place.
One of the immediate background factors was stated to be the imminence
of the 1970 revision of the ASA standard. It was felt by some members
present that the collation of information and views of relevance to
the ASA revision should be given very early consideration by the group.
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| OBJECTIVES |
The objectives of the group were formally agreed to be:
- to form a focus in the United Kingdom for work concerned with establishing
and maintaining FORTRAN standards.
- to work in association with national and international standardisation bodies.
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| PROGRAMME OF ACTIVITIES |
The following programme of activities was then devised against these objectives.
- Analyse existing ASI standards for Basic FORTRAN and FORTRAN.
- Review, implementation against (1) in regard to syntax and semantics.
- Collating Users' requirements and proposed solutions.
- Recommendations to standard Bodies as a result of (1), (2) and (3).
- Dissemination of information on FORTRAN standards.
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It was agreed that Mr Gatehouse would write to ASI to advise them
that a BCS FORTRAN specialist group is being formed and to ask, in
particular, for communication on documentation and information on
standardisation practices.
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ACTION
Mr Gatehouse
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It was decided to start some immediate work against the programme
of activities, in particular, Dr Ian Pyle would collate information
against item 1 and present an Interim Report at the next meeting.
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ACTION
Dr Pyle
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Mr Shearing (Alcock Shearing & Partners) and Mr D. T. Muxworthy
(Edinburgh Regional Computing Centre) would similarly proceed with
an Interim Report for presentation at the next meeting against
item 2.
Members would write to Mr Gatehouse regarding item 3 and
again, dependent on the response, a preliminary statement on 3 would
be available for the next meeting.
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ACTION
Mr Shearing
Mr Muxworthy
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| FUNDS FOR SPECIALIST GROUP |
In response to the Secretary's enquiries, Mr Gatehouse established
the normal procedure for financial support, namely, that the
British Computer Society makes available to a specialist group,
funds of £50 per year to cover incidental expenses. It therefore
became clear that members would need to be able to fund their own
travelling expenses to the meetings and those present agreed that
provided the meetings were not too frequent this would be feasible.
However, the point was made that if the work subsequently entailed
special travel against a formal specified project, then
Mr Gatehouse would make representation to Mr John Nicholson, the
Secretary to the Technical Committee, regarding the position of
the British Computer Society funding, before any such project
commenced.
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| DRAFT FOR BCS BULLETIN |
The Secretary agreed to draft for comment at the next meeting a
contribution intended for the next British Computer Society Bulletin.
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ACTION
Mrs Barritt
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| DATE OF NEXT MEETING |
The date of the next meeting (to discuss the first documents) was
fixed for Tuesday, 17th February, 1970 at 10.45 a.m. at 29 Portland Place,
London, W.1. A formal meeting will also be held on 7th April, to which
interested parties will be invited through the Bulletin.
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| ADDENDUM TO PROGRAMME OF ACTIVITIES |
The following is a list of headings under which Dr Pyle proposes
to produce his Interim Report:
Data type and manipulation
Flow of control within routine
Connection between routines
Error detection and handling
Environment for compilers and object programs
Manner of defining Standard.
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