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EEECEBVE®JUN 27 1978

E.A. FEIGENBAUM

June, 1978

To: AFIPS Board

From: R.I. TanakaInternational Relations Committee Chairman

Subject: New AFIFS Representative to IFIP

It is time to initiate the process for naming a new AFIPS Representativeto the IFIP General Assembly.

It had been my original intent to provide specific suggestions at thistime for action by the President and the Board. But I have delayeddoing so for two reasons:

1. To solicit suggestions from the Board for names of suitablecandidates, and

2. To keep this process decoupled as much as possible from the AFIPSelection.

The second point has not been an issue of concern. But it is importantto continue to assure that the selection of the IFIP Representative bemade on the basis of personal qualifications rather than on organizationalor political factors.

If your suggestions are received by mid August, 1978, the basic timingwill work out fairly well. The IFIP General Assembly meeting isscheduled for Oslo this year. If the old and the prospective new U.S.Representatives could both attend that September meeting, it would behelpful.

The general requirements of the position are fairly well known to you.Nonetheless, it may be helpful to summarize some of the relevant factsand background

There is no fixed term for serving as a national delegate to IFIP. Thisis entirely a matter to be determined by each national society. In thecase of some of the other countries in IFIP, the appointment seems almostto be a permanent one and there are a few representatives who have beenwith IFIP from its very inception.

Static representation, particularly from an inactive or incompetentperson, creates problems for both organizations. The. national society

suffers for obvious reasons: it is not represented well, and alsousually receives no meaningful information about IFIP.

But IFIP also suffers, since the executive positions within IFIP mustbe filled by General Assembly members. As a practical matter, IFIPneeds a larger pool of qualified and active GA members.

At the same time, changing representatives too often is not helpful.Since IFIP meets less frequently than do national bodies, it takes timefor delegates to become effective. Some countries have made the IFIPGA position into a ceremonial reward (usually to their national Presidentor Past-President) but this situation is becoming less common.

There is a natural three-year cycle, since the major elective IFIPpositions are generally defined as three-year terms. Exceptions arewhen resignations or election to higher office require filling vacancies.

It is realistic to assume that the position of IFIP President willprobably not be available to the U.S.A. for a while because the U.S.has had that position recently. (However, an outstanding representativecould overcome that situation, and it would be to the benefit of IFIPwere that to happen.)

However, with three Vice-President positions, one of these being up forelection each year, it is likely that an effective U.S. Representativecould look forward to being a Vice-President.

Even more likely (almost a certainty) is that the U.S. Representativewill be elected as a Trustee and hence be a member of the IFIP Council.

IFIP is an infinite sink for time and energy and much of the work is,as usual, not visible and certainly not always entertaining. The travelis obvious, and time-consuming, but an even larger proportion of time isneeded simply for the correspondence and the allied work.

Each representative is expected to attend the annual General Assemblymeeting. But that is the absolute minimum. As an Officer or a Trustee,one is expected to attend the Council Meeting in the. Spring as well asthe meetings which precede the General Assembly meeting in the Fall.

It is likely that the U.S. Representative will also be asked to chairat least one of the standing committees as well. In summary, it isrealistic to expect the U.S. Representative to attend at least two majormeetings each year and to be available to work in various IFIP positionsfor at least three years, and likely more.

The necessity for maintaining contact with the AFIPS Board is clear.Where possible, the constituent societies are also involved, althoughmost of the routine communication is handled through AFIPS, if only forpractical reason.

The U.S. role in IFIP is interesting and unique. The position isautomatically one of influence within IFIP (as long as the position ishandled with some degree of sensitivity). U.S. leadership in technology,the. broad base and strength of AFIPS, and an often-unspoken, but none-theless strong respect for U.S. organizational efficiency are all factorswhich help bolster the U.S. position in IFIP.

Working against the U.S. position are certain reactions, ranging fromhostility to amused tolerance, which are easily stimulated by U.S.participants who are insensitive to the political and cultural factorswhich are inherent in any international body.

Earlier in this document, mention was made of the need for making theselection based on personal qualifications. But the qualifications arenot uniquely defined. A wide variety of styles and background and behaviorcan prove effective in IFIP.

An even wider variety will not.

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American Fed ol Information Processing 3ociei.es. Inc 2iO Summit Avenue. Montvale, Now Jersey 07645 ?01 91-98

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78/05/01

T. B. Steel , JrAT&T295 North Maple AveBasking Ridge, NJ 07920Rm # 531 6A2

To: R. I. Tanaka - Chairman, AFIPS International Relations Committee

From: T. B. Steel, Jr. - AFIPS Representative, IFIP TC-2

Subject: Annual Report

Copy to: AFIPS Headquarters, J. M. Gallitano

There have been two meetings of IFIP TC-2 (Programming) since the lastreport to AFIPS: 1977 August 1 - 2, St. Andrews, NB, CANADA and 1978April 14 - 15, Oxford, ENGLAND. I was unable to participate in theSt. Andrews meeting for personal reasons and AFIPS was officiallyrepresented by J. M. Gallitano (TC-2 Secretary). I did participate inthe Oxford meeting.

The following summary of TC-2 activities for 1977 - 1978 is organizedby Working Group.

This Working Group is responsible for both ALGOL 60 and ALGOL 68. It hasformed subcommittees which support these languages by serving as a contractpoint for the computer community outside IFIP. In particular, the sub-committee on ALGOL 60 actively cooperates with the International Standardiza-tion Organization (ISO) in the attempt to define an ALGOL 60 standard inaccordance with the Modified Report on ALGOL 60 as a successor to theprevious ISO recommendation ISO/R 1538.

Apart from these activities WG 2.1 is discussing general concepts ofalgorithmic languages. There is some indication that WG 2.1 will approachmore specifically the area of high level systems programming languages.As a result, a coordination of its efforts with those of WG 2.4 (see below)may become desirable.

WG 2.1 on "ALGOL"

WG 2.2 on "Formal Description of Programming Concepts' '(

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WG 2.2 held a Working Conference on "Formal Description of ProgrammingConcepts" in St. Andrews, N.8., Canada 1977, August 1 - 5. This conferencereceived a favorable response. The papers presented au this conference,together with transcriptions of the technical discussions, will be publishedas Proceedings by North-Holland. Together they represent very well thecurrent interests and activities of WG 2.2.

WG 2.3 meets typically twice a year. Both members and observers discussfreely at these meetings general topics in the area of programming. Manypapers which later on have been accepted as fundamental and important forthe advancement and better understanding or programming, have found theirfirst stimulation in open discussions during WG 2.3 meetings. WG 2.3 isnow about to have published by Springer - Verlag, "Programming Methodology- a collection of Papers in the Domain of IFIP Working Group 2.3". Theeditor is David Gries, a member of WG 2.3. TC 2 looks forward with greatinterest to the appearing of this book.

This Working Group was the main sponsor of the Working Conference on "Con-structing Quality Software" held in Novosibirsk, USSR 1977 May 23 - 28. Theactivities of WG 2.4 center around Systems Programming Languages. At presentthere is a strong desire in this group to influence positively the SystemImplementation Language (SIL) standardization effort of the US Government.It is felt that the concern for activities in a single country - thoughnormally outside the scope of an IFIP Working group - is well justifiedin this particular case, since the SIL effort is likely to have an enormousimpact on computing world - wide.

As mentioned above both WG 2.4 and WG 2.1 are aware that their activities mayoverlap to a certain extent in the future. In order to avoid duplicationthey communicate extensively.

WG 2.5 on "Numerical Software"

WG 2.5 is concerned with problems that arise in connection with portabilityof Numerical Software. It has produced commentaries on the MAP statementin FORTRAN to assist in portability. This paper was forwarded to andfavorably received by the ANS FORTRAN Standards Committee X3J3.

A document "Parametrization of the Environment for Transportable NumericalSoftware" was submitted to IFIP and approved for publication as an officialIFIP document.

WG 2.5 will hold a Working Conference on "Performance Evaluation of NumericalSoftware", in Baden, AUSTRIA, 1978 December 11 - 15.

WG 2.3 on "Programming Methodology"

WG 2.4 on "Machine Oriented High Level Languages"

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WG 2.6 on "Data Bases"

WG 2.6 is concentrating its current discussions on a so-called conceptualschema language. All meetings in 1978, like those held in 1977, will dealwith this topic. A first draft of a formal definition 1 of a conceptualschema language is expected to appear in 1979. A Working Conference isplanned for Venice, Italy 1979 June 20 - 22.

WG 2.7 has held its first regular meeting in 1977, and decided to concernitself for the time being mainly with Command Languages.

A Working Conference on Command Languages is scheduled for Berchtesgaden,GERMANY, 1977 September 10-14

The next meeting of TC-2 is scheduledand the following meeting for Venice,

for Baden, AUSTRIA, 1978 December 15ITALY, 1979 June 18 - 19.

Respectfully submitted,

T. B. Steel,' ,r.,AFIPS Representative to IFIP TC-2

WG 2.7 on "Operating System Interfaces"

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INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION FOR INFORMATION PROCESSING

Date: June 2, 1978Address ropiy to : Dr. John J. Allan 111

Board of DirectorsAFIPS210 Summit AvenueMontvale, New Jersey 07645

Subject: Annual Report of Dr John J. Allan 111to IFIP T.C.5U.S. Representative

Dear Colleagues

Although I have been active in IFIP activities since 197.1,and have been Vice-chairman of W.G.5.2 since 1973, it isonly since January, 1978 that I have been the U.S. Represen-tative to T.C.5. Not knowing of a particular form for this,my first report to you, I hope that the following meets withyour approval. This report concerns my own active involvement,and assumes that you receive T.C.5 and W.G.5.2 annual reportsthrough normal channels. The Review segment of my reportbelow is for the full past year.

1977-78 In Review:

Proceedings of W.G.5.2 Working Conference on "CADSystems" which I edited appeared on the market,Spring, 1977.

W.G.5.2 ad hoc planning meeting with Chairman, DrWarman, in Teesside, England, June, 1977.

Attended and participated in both W.G.5.2 and T.C.5meetings and events in Toronto, August, 1978.Paper reviewer for Toronto also.

October 1977, began carrying all relevant IFIPmeeting announcements in the CAD/CAM Digest forwhich I am an editor.

Gave an invited lecture at the French Space Agency,Toulouse, France, November, 1977; and was intro-duced as the Vice-Chairman of W.G.5.2.

Presides! : P.A. Dobillier (Switzerland)Past-President : R.l. Tanuka (USA)

Vice-President : J.M. Bennett (Australia)Vice-President : P. Renard (i-rnnce)Vice-President : A.A. Dorodnicyn (USSR)

Secretary : H. Keilhau (Norway)Treasurer : J. Tucn (Finland)

IFIP Secretariat : 3 rue du

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CH-1204 Geneva. Switzerland - Tel. (022) 28 26-19 - Telex : 23 472 IFIP

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Invited to present IFIP international view ofCAD/CAM to ASiME Winter Annual Meeting in Atlanta,November, 1977.

Have presented lEEE short courses in many LatinAmerican and European countries, and in February,1978, developed the new international short coursefor lEEE, "Introduction to CAD/CAM" .Participated in program committee meeting inBrighton, England, for the September, 1978 Bologna,Italy Conference during March, 1978, as IFIP W.G.5.2representative. I am the CAD/CAM Workshop and Educa-tion Panel Session organizer for that Conference.

Participated in W.G.5.2 Working Conference on"Artificial Intelligence and Pattern Recognition inCAD", Grenoble , France , March, 1978. Also partici-pated in W.G.5.2 and T.C.5 business meetings and twoother planning sessions for Bologna. Served on theOrganizing Committee and reviewed all Conferencepapers .Elected in Grenoble as the W.G.5.2 representativeto the ACM/lEEE Design Automation Conference. Tryingto complete agreements for co-sponsorship on an "incooperation with" basis.

Met in Dallas in May with the Chairman of the BolognaConference for tutorial financial arrangements andsome W.G.5.2 scheduling.

Plan to attend executive planning session for nextDesign Automation Conference on June 22, 1978 inLas Vegas.

and Onward:

Plan to attend W.G.5.2 Working Group meeting followingthe Bologna, Italy Meeting in September, 1978.

Plan to attend the T.C.5 meeting in Budapest onJanuary 18, 1978, and also T.C.5/T.C.9 Conference.

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Was elected in Toronto to organizing committee ofTokyo 1980 T.C.5 Conference on Man/Machine Inter-action. Plan to attend interim meeting in Bologna,Italy, and hope to visit organizers in 1979 inTokyo .Working with Organization of American States andothers on groundwork for 1981, Havana, Cuba,Conference on Computers in Agriculture and FoodProduction.

Working with Professor B0 of Trondheim, Norway, on1981 Conference on Taxonomy of CAD Systems.

o Plan to attend W.G.5.2 Conference in Tallin, USSR,September, 1979.

Informal liaison with U.N. Office of Science andTechnology concerning 1979 World Conference.

o Have been doing considerable background work for apossible Mid-East W.G.5.2 Meeting.

I appreciate the AFIPS travel support to the Grenoble Meetingin March of this year. I was able to arrange the rest of thetravel indicated by giving invited lectures or some similararrangement. I trust that some support will be available tome to continue this important work. I will try to continue topay as much as possible myself.

John J. Allan 111U.S. Representative to IFIP TVice-chairman of IFIP W.G.5.2

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cc: Dr. Richard I. Tanaka, (Requested Report), Chairman,AFIPS International Relations Committee

Dr. Theodore J. Williams, President, AFIPSMr. Robert W. Rector, Executive Secretary, AFIPSMr. Jakob Vlietstra, Chairman, IFIP, T.C.5Dr. Ernest A. Warman, Chairman, IFIP, W.G.5.2Ms. Gwyneth Roberts, IFIP Secretariat

Sincerely,