The Shape of Code

A while back I wrote about how updated versions of ECMAscript (i.e., the Standard for Javascript) had twice been fast tracked to replace an existing ISO Standard, however the ISO rules require that once a document becomes one of its standards all future work be done using the ISO process (i.e., you only supposed to get the one original fast track and then you have to get at least half a dozen countries to say they will actively participate in ongoing work). Thirteen years after I asked why it was being allowed to happen (as I recall I only raised the issue because I thought I had misunderstood the rules, not because I had a burning desire to enforce them) the issue has suddenly sprung to life (we are talking Standard’s world ‘sudden’ here), with a question being raised at the last SC22 meeting and a more detailed one being prepared by BSI for the next meeting (they occur once per year).

The Elephant in the room here is ISO/IEC 29500:2008, not a programming language but Microsoft’s Office Open XML; there was quite a bit of fuss when this was fast tracked.

If the ISO rules on one-time only use of the fast track process was limited to programming languages I imagine the bureaucrats in Geneva would probably never get to hear about it (SC22 would probably conclude that there was not enough interest in the various documents outside of the submitting country to form an active ISO working group; so leave well alone).

ISO sells over 19,000 standards and has better things to do than spend time on the goings on in an unfashionable part of the galaxy, unless, that is, it has the potential to generate lots of fuss that undermines credibility.

Will Microsoft try to fast track an updated version of ISO 29500? I don’t even know if they are updating it. The possibility that ISO 29500 might be updated and submitted for fast track will make it hard for SC22 to agree to any future fast-track updates to existing ISO Standards it is responsible for.

The following is a list of documents that have been fast tracked to become an ISO Standard:

ECMAScript:
ECMA-262 (1st edn) = ISO 16262:1998
ECMA-262 (3rd edn) = ISO 16262:1999
ECMA-262 (5th edn) = ISO 16262:2011

C#:
ECMA-334 (2nd edn) = ISO 23270:2003
ECMA-334 (4th edn) = ISO 23270:2006

CLI:
ECMA-335 (2nd edn) = ISO 23271:2003
ECMA-335 (6th edn) = ISO 23271:2012

ECMA standards fast-tracked to ISO and not yet revised:
ECMA-149 PCTE part 1 = ISO 13719-1:1998
ECMA-158 PCTE part 2 = ISO 13719-2:1998
ECMA-162 PCTE part 3 = ISO 13719-3:1998
ECMA-230 PCTE IDL binding = ISO 13719-4:1998
ECMA-367 EIFFEL = ISO 25436:2006
ECMA-372 C++/CLI -> DIS 26926; failed DIS ballot and project cancelled

Replaced rather than revised under JTC1 rules:
CHILL (from CCITT): ISO standards 9496:1989, 9496:1995, 9496:1998, 9496:2003
MUMPS/M (from Mass Gen Hospital/ANSI): ISO standards 11756:1992, 11756:1999

Non-ECMA documents fast-tracked through ISO and not yet revised:
FORTH (from FORTH Inc): ISO 15145:1997
JEFF (from J consortium): ISO 20970:2002
Ruby (from Japanese Industrial Standards Committee): ISO/IEC 30170:2012