Volume 5, number 1, March 1997, page 14

Windills
Examples

by Ed J.P.M. de Moel

There probably is an announcement elsewhere in this issue of M Computing: the publication of M[UMPS] by Example is finally a fact.

It is now about four years since I started on this book, and I still don't feel that it is "complete", and maybe it never will be. I did feel that it was important to have some form of the book generally available, though.

This is not a book to read "cover to cover". Instead, it is more like a dictionary, itemizing all aspects of M[UMPS]-related issues, grouped by functional category, in alphabetical order (well… the section on error numbers is in numeric order, and the section on special characters ins in order of ASCII code, but one gets the drift easily). The book is intended to answer questions like:

Some of these questions are answered more than completely in this new book, and some only partially or not at all. I hope it will be less than another four years before the next edition of this book will appear in print.

[ And... if you have examples that you would like to contribute for a future edition, or if you have questions that you would like to see answered, please e-mail them to me. ]

ANSI today... tomorrow the world

Last summer, ANSI gave their final approval to the standards that were canvassed in 1994 and 1995, and last fall, ISO announced their intent to conduct a "fast-track" procedure for the Language Standard, the Open M[UMPS] Interconnect Standard and the M[UMPS] Windows Application Programmer’s Interface.
Keep an eye open for announcements in the international press!

Subcommittees

It is often said that committees ask for seconds, keep minutes and waste hours. In some sense, this is probably true for the MDC as well.

Something else that committees tend to do is create large amounts of sub-committees (and the sub-committees create sub-sub-committees, et cetera). Until about a year ago, the MDC had five subcommittees. Currently, there are "only three". Does this mean that the committee is losing its impetus? I don’t think so. The subcommittees that have ceased to exist are still there in a way: the groups that worked on the windows API and networking have completed the most labor-intensive part of their work and are continuing on as sub-sub-committees of the subcommittee called "Environments" (actually, the MDC calls such a sub-sub-group a "task group").

But there are a couple of new projects that have started, and I would not be surprised if there were suggestions to channel the work for these efforts through new subcommittees.

Brave new language

The main "new idea" is to start looking more at the future than at the past. Rather than "fixing" the existing language and inserting modern constructs like "Object Orientation" into a body that is still hesitating to complete the transition from "Turing State Orientation" to "Stack Orientation", the thought is to start work on a new language has gained acceptance. The new language would carry forward the desirable aspects of the current one and does not have the limitations that impede progress on the introduction of new concepts.

Is there indeed a marketplace for this brave new language that has such beautiful syntax in it, or could it be that the installed base of existing software is important enough that a new language is an exercise of academic interest only?

Within the next few meetings, the future of this effort will be decided. It is time to gather input from the community at large to find out where "our best interests" really are. So, once again, if you have an opinion that you wish the MDC to consider, do let us know. Write to the secretariat, or attend our meetings!


Ed de Moel is past chairman of the MDC and works with Jacquard Systems Research. His experience includes developing software for research in medicine and physics. Over the past ten years, Ed's has mostly focused on the production of tools for data management and analysis, and tools for the support of day-to-day operation of medical systems. Ed can be reached by e-mail.