Standards

[James Miller <jmiller%mephi%brandeis.csnet@RELAY.CS.NET>]

Since I won't be able to attend the meeting, I'd like to very briefly
state my feelings on the subject:

(1) I think standardization is now unavoidable.

(2) Because of the time and expense involved in the process, I will
not be able to participate except by network message.  The people who
will directly be involved in the process should decide what
organization they would prefer to deal with.

(3) The R^nS as it stands, after fixing bugs (as in numbers) is an
excellent starting point.  I feel it should be issued as an "interim
standard" if there is such a thing.  

(4) Before making a final standard, however, I strongly believe that
the language must have a standard and portable mechanism for extending
the syntax (macros).  Without this the ability to experiment with
language changes and exchange code based on these changes will become
quite difficult; it is already fairly severe when dealing with widely
differing implementations with which one is not intimately familiar.
It would be well worth a two year delay, if necessary, to work out a
solution to this problem that is acceptable to the entire community.

--Jim