Re: Ada '88 Proposals (Ada 9X)

[jbg@SEI.CMU.EDU]

Lest readers of Tucker Taft's message be misled, note that there is no
official activity underway that would lead to a revised Ada standard being
issued in 1988, either as a military, ANSI, or ISO standard.  1988 surfaces as
a date because all ANSI Standards are reviewed every 5 years to see if they
should be retired or revised.  Clearly, in response to this inquiry in 1988,
the AJPO will say the Standard is still needed.  It would also be reasonable
to say at that time that revisions are anticipated at a later date, but
probably any such revisions would not be approved in a revised Standard until
some time in the 90s.  Hence, it's better to refer to the revised Standard as
Ada 9X instead of Ada '88.  Note that the revision cycle for other languages
is about once every ten years; I don't expect Ada will be any different.
Of course, this doesn't mean it's inappropriate to discuss possible changes
now; quite the contrary.