ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC22 Programming languages, their environments and system software interfaces Secretariat: U.S.A. (ANSI) ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC22 N2461 April 1997 TITLE: Proposed JTC 1 Technical Directions and Common Strategic Characteristics SOURCE: Secretariat, ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC22 WORK ITEM: N/A STATUS: N/A CROSS REFERENCE: N/A DOCUMENT TYPE: N/A ACTION: To SC22 Member Bodies, WG Conveners and HODs for information. Address reply to: ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC22 Secretariat William C. Rinehuls 8457 Rushing Creek Court Springfield, VA 22153 USA Tel: +1 (703) 912-9680 Fax: +1 (703) 912-2973 email: rinehuls@access.digex.net ___________________end of title page; beginning of text __________________ ISO/IEC JTC 1 Information Technology ISO/IEC JTC 1 N 4627 DATE: 1997.04.16 REPLACES DOC TYPE: Other document TITLE: Proposed JTC 1 Technical Directions and Common Strategic Characteristics SOURCE: JTC 1 Ad Hoc on JTC 1 Reengineering PROJECT: STATUS: In accordance with recommendation 5 taken at the April Ad Hoc meeting in Berlin, this document is circulated to JTC 1 National Bodies for a 60-day letter ballot. Comments received on this ballot will be considered at the June 1997 Ad Hoc meeting on JTC 1 reengineering in London. NOTE: This ballot has been shortened so that the responses may be considered at the next Ad Hoc meeting which begins on 16 June 1997. ACTION ID: LB DUE DATE: 1997.06.09 DISTRIBUTION: P and L Members MEDIUM: D DISKETTE NO.: 119 NO. OF PAGES: 5 Secretariat, ISO/IEC JTC 1, American National Standards Institute, 11 West 42nd Street, New York, NY 10036; Telephone: 1 212 642 4932; Facsimile: 1 212 398 0023; Email: lrajchel@ansi.org ISO/IEC JTC 1 N 4627 Title: Proposed JTC 1 Technical Directions and Common Strategic Characteristics Source: JTC 1 Ad Hoc on JTC 1 Reengineering Action: This document is circulated to JTC 1 National Bodies for a 60-day letter ballot. The following Technical Directions have been identified by the JTC 1 Ad Hoc on JTC 1 Re-engineering: Technical Directions Data capture Distributed application services Identification Cards and Related Devices Information Interchange Media IT terminology Multimedia and Representation Networking & Interconnects Office Equipment Programming Languages & Software Interfaces Security Software Engineering User Interfaces Descriptions of Technical Directions Data Capture Coding (data formats, syntax, and structure) and enabling technologies for individually and uniquely identifying items and entities. Distributed Application Services Enabling technologies for use in a distributed environment in order to achieve concrete distributed application services. They constitute: Data management functions including definition of data structures and semantics for a complete range of datatypes, together with services and protocols for storage, access and update of such data; Specification of application functions independently of the details of their distribution (through the use of object technology); together with the configuration and management of those functions across enterprises. Distributed systems services functions such as transaction processing, electronic messaging, directory and systems management; and for specification of techniques used for messaging in electronic commerce. ID Cards and Related Devices Interchange and manipulation of stored digital data on optical, magnetic and/or semiconductor media, using on demand optical, magnetic, electrical and/or RF techniques. Information Interchange Media Physical characteristics of storage media using optical, magnetic or other technologies and structure of data for storage and interchange, including algorithms for the loss-less compression of data. IT Terminology Terminology for Information Technology and related fields, intended to achieve consistency throughout worldwide markets and users. Multimedia & Representation Coding of hypermedia and multimedia and coded representation of picture, audio and character information, including - sets of compression and control functions for use with such information, interchange of such information. Networking and Interconnects Functions necessary for establishment and control of information exchange via networks and physical interfaces. They comprise, for communications, interfaces and protocols, for transport, network management and selected application services and the physical infrastructure. Office Equipment Basic characteristics, performance, test methods and other related aspects of office equipment and products such as: Printers Copying equipment Digital scanners Facsimile equipment Programming Languages and Software Interfaces Programming languages, their environments and systems software interfaces, including - specification techniques, - common facilities, and - language bindings. Security Generic frameworks, methods, techniques and mechanisms for Information and Communication Technology security, including interfaces for invoking security functionalities, related APIs and protocols. Software Engineering Processes, supporting tools and supporting technologies for the engineering of software products and systems. User Interfaces User-system interfaces for input devices such as keyboards, mice, pointers and pens; rules for systems control by voice recognition, presentation techniques, dialogues, graphic symbols and icons including those for people with special needs. COMMON STRATEGIC CHARACTERISTICS FOR JTC 1 STANDARDS A purpose of IT standardization is to ensure that products available in the marketplace have characteristics of interoperability, portability and that can easily be adopted in different cultural environments. Standards which are developed within the context of the JTC 1 Technology Directions shall reflect the requirements of the following common strategic characteristics: Interoperability The ability of two or more systems or applications to exchange information and to mutually use the information that has been exchanged. Portability The ease with which entities such as software and data can be transferred from one system to another. Cultural Adaptability The special characteristics of natural languages and the commonly accepted rules for their use (especially in written form) which are particular to a society or geographic area. Examples are: national characters and associated elements (such as hyphens, dashes, and punctuation marks), correct transformation of characters, dates and measures, sorting and searching rules, coding of national entities (such as country and currency codes), presentation of telephone numbers, and keyboard layouts. The requirement for JTC 1 standards to enhance and ensure Interoperability is consistent with the approved JTC 1 Policy on Interoperability. These characteristics are from the attributes identified in ISO/IEC JTC 1 GII N 123, ISO/IEC JTC 1 GII Roadmap: Guidelines for Evolution, Management and Development of GII Standards. While all the attributes in this document are important and should be taken into account as appropriate, we believe Interoperability, Portability and Cultural Adaptability are critical to the success of JTC 1 standards. The applicability of these three requirements will vary across the technology directions. Work in each of the technology directions must properly take in account these requirements. __________________________end of SC22 N2461 ________________________