How Standards?

[Doug Gwyn]

In article <HAGERMAN.91Apr16221024 at rx7.ece.cmu.edu> hagerman at ece.cmu.edu (John Hagerman) writes:
>How does ANSI work?  Can/will ANSI C continue to evolve?  Is there any
>point in my thinking about what I'd change in the language, or in
>posting such thoughts here for comment?  Is it possible for me to get
>my thoughts into serious consideration with little pain?

ANSI X3J11 is currently only in the business of interpreting the
existing C standard, not drafting a new one.  A revised C standard
from ANSI is unlikely for the next several years.  ISO SC22/WG14
is currently working on proposed "normative addenda" that would in
effect modify the international C standard, which at the moment is
technically identical to the ANSI C standard.  It is highly
desirable for such addenda to remain entirely compatible with the
current standard, but anything could happen, given the politics
involved and the fact that it's mostly a different set of people
than the ones who prepared the original technical content (so some
of the principles and reasoning that went into the current standard
may not be known to the addendum workers; not all of that was
captured in the Rationale document).  However, the normative
addenda are addressing specific technical areas and are not meant
as a way to solicit random suggestions for changes to C.

If you have some good ideas for improvements (hopefully not
incompatible changes) to the language, try implementing them or
suggesting them to implementors.  For example, the Gnu C compiler
supports numerous extensions beyond the standard.  If there is
enough favorable experience with the extensions when work begins
toward a revised standard at some future date, then they might be
adopted for the future standard.  "But don't bother us now."