Project 64: C language 

Stanford 1988:
==============

S. Feldman reported on the current status of the ANSI C
standardization effort. It was noted that because the standardization
process was in its last stages, the input from WG 2.5 would not be
heeded. (Cody, Hull, Gentleman, Ford, Reid, Dekker).

S. Feldman also reported on some other public domain efforts such as
SPIFF and a project that is expected to provide free tools for
effecting FORTRAN 77 to C conversions. T. Dekker informed the group of
an effort to produce an Algol 60 to C converter.

Beijing 1989:
=============

Document: IFIP/WG 2.5 (Beijing-10) 1610, 5 pages.

Vouk reported on the formation of Numerical C Extensions Group, and
the problems that the C language may present to numerical software
(1610). Educational and other aspects of the C language in relation to
numerical software were discussed. It was decided to contact X3J11 and
forward the concerns WG 2.5 has over the numerical features of the C
language (Fosdick, Paul, Dekker, Einarsson, Kulisch, Tsuda).

WG 2.5 discussed the report on numerical properties of C, and the
formation of NCEG on two occasions. Cody attended the first NCEG
meeting (Vouk). A general agreement was that use of C for for
numerical software may present a number of problems (Fosdick, Paul,
Vouk, Hanson). Kulisch, was of the opinion that the arithmetic should
be part of the language.  Dekker and Paul did not agree with this, but
said that a better solution is to adopt good practices. It was also
noted by Kulisch that IEEE rounding is not addressable from the
language even when it is available in hardware. Rice noted that the
best course would be to find a mechanism to convey to X3J11 the
concern WG 2.5 feels about the shortcomings in C as regards numerical
software. WG 2.5 would also like to keep in touch with the NCEG
activities.  

J. Cody will be asked to draft a letter to ANSI X3J11, on behalf of WG
2.5, expressing concern over the problems that may arise from the use
of C, as defined in the draft standard, for writing numerical software
(M: Paul, S: Rice; Y: unanimous).

Jerusalem 1990:
===============

Documents: 
IFIP/WG 2.5 (Jerusalem-11) 1711, 3 pages, 
IFIP/WG 2.5 (Jerusalem-12) 1712, 2 pages.

Feldman informed the group about the NETLIB based F2C translator. Cody
(see 1712) and Vouk are members of the NCEG and will continue to act a
WG 2.5 liaisons with NCEG. Vouk, reported on the work of the Numerical
C Extensions Group in the past year. WG 2.5 members who would like any
of the documents listed in 1711 should contact Vouk. Vouk and Feldman
will work on offering ICIAM organizers a minisymposium on numerical
features of C.

Karlsruhe 1991:
===============

Documents: 
IFIP/WG 2.5 (Karlsruhe-9) 1809, 14 pages, 
IFIP/WG 2.5 (Karlsruhe-11) 1812, 4 pages.

Vouk and Feldman informed WG 2.5 about their participation in ICIAM 91
(see 2.4.1).

Work continued with the discussion continued with the proposed
Language Compatible Arithmetic Standard proposed at X3 and ISO levels.
WG 2.5 members found the draft sufficiently problematic to warrant a
letter to ISO and X3.

L. Fosdick will send the letter to X3T2 and ISO.

WG 2.5 will monitor, and participate, in the further development of
the standard.  

ICIAM, 1991
------------

Document: IFIP/WG 2.5 (Karlsruhe-17) 1817, 3 pages,

The Second International Conference on Industrial and Applied
Mathematics was held in Washington, D.C., between 8 and 12 July 1991.
Three minisymposia were organized by the IFIP WG 2.5 members during
ICIAM 1991:

- J. Reid, "Fortran 90: How the New Language will Benefit Applied
Mathematics."

- S. Feldman and M. Vouk, "Scientific and Numerical Computing in C."

- H. J. Stetter, "Use of Automatically Derivable Analytic Information
in Numerical Computation."

All three minisymposia were well attended and well received. Summary
of the content of the minisymposia is given in document 1817.

Raleigh 1994:
=============

Rump presented the research activities of his group and discussed a
new language C+.

Document: 
=========

1. Vouk, M.A., "Multidimensional Arrays in C", Proc. Symposium on
Scientific Software, Beijing, P.R. China (Ed. Cai, Fosdick, Huang,
China University of Science and Technology Press, Beijing, China), 
pp 232-249, June 1989.