BRITISH COMPUTER SOCIETY FORTRAN SPECIALIST GROUP

MINUTES of a MEETING on Tuesday,

12th January, 1971 at B.C.S.

Headquarters, 29 Portland Place,

London, W.1. at 9.30 a.m.

PRESENT:        Mr J.S. Gatehouse (Chairman)     GEC-EE Ltd.

                Mr K. E. Bicknell                Rothamsted Experimental Station

                Mr P. D. Bond                    Philips Electrical

                Mr L. I. Brown                   Kienzle Data Systems

                Mr B. Coopersmith                London University Computing Services

                Mr J. C. Cullen                  B.P.

                Mr I. E. Davidson                N.C.R.

                Dr A. C. Day                     University College, London

                Mr R. E. Day                     Edinburgh Regional Computing Centre

                  Mr M. J. Garside                  University of Kent at Canterbury

                Mr S. G. Guest                   I.T.T. Data Services

                Mr P. Hammond                    B.P.

                Mr J. P. Holland                 Tunnel Cement Ltd.

                Mr K. James                      I.C.L., Bracknell

                Mr C. K. Mackinnon               U.K.A.E.A., Risley

                Mr D. T. O'Leary                 C.S.P. Ltd.

                Dr C. B. A. Price                Honeywell Information Systems Ltd.

                  Mr J. D. Roberts                 EE/AEI Turbine Generators Ltd.

                Mr B. H. Shearing                Alcock, Shearing & Partners

                Mr I. A. G. Snowball             A.E.R.E., Harwell

                Miss E. Wilson                   University of Kent at Canterbury

                Mr M. B. Wood                    National Computing Centre Ltd.

                Mr D. T. Muxworthy (temporary    Edinburgh Regional Computing Centre

                                        Secretary)

APOLOGIES

FOR ABSENCE:    Mrs M. M. Barritt (Secretary)    Edinburgh Regional Computing Centre

                Mr H. W. Bradly (Assistant       GEC Power Engineering Ltd.

                                 Secretary)

                Mr J. R. Keane                   I.C.L., Bracknell

1. APPROVAL OF    The minutes of the meeting held on 8th September, 1970 were

   MINUTES        approved.

2. MATTERS        The Chairman reported on the meeting of the Steering Committee

   ARISING        held on the 16th December; this was concerned mainly with

arrangements for the Workshop in Edinburgh and with the reports

of the Working Parties. (see items 3 and 4 below).

The Chairman also reported on correspondence between the

Secretary and the N.C.C.

There was some discussion on the "Standard Fortran Programming

Manual" published by N.C.C. Mr Snowball will collate information

on factual errors in the manual and it is intended that a list be

available at the time of the Workshop in April. Mr Wood was not

present at this time; later he said he would welcome comments

on the manual. It was also suggested that members could write

as individuals to the editor of the Computer Bulletin about

Fortran topics, including the manual.

(Mr Snowball's address is: Building 8.9, A.E.R.E., Harwell,

Didcot, Berkshire; Mr Wood's address is: National Computing Centre,

Quay House, Quay Street, Manchester, M3 3HU).

3. REPORTS OF     (a) Conversational Fortran

   WORKING        Mr Bradly's report was read to the meeting. (A copy is

   PARTIES        distributed with these minutes). As Mr Bradly has resigned

the chairmanship of this Working Party, it was agreed that

he should pass manuals and relevant documents to Mr O'Leary

who would co-ordinate work until a new chairman was appointed.

The Working Party is thus re-established in a holding capacity

and anyone interested is invited to write to Mr O'Leary,

particularly regarding these objectives:

  (i)    to list facilities which should be modified from

         Standard Fortran.

  (ii)   to list how existing systems implement these

         facilities.

(iii)    to recommend the best way of implementing these

         facilities.

(Mr O'Leary's address is: C.S.P. Ltd., 9 Margaret Street,

London, W1N 7LF.)

(b) Small-machine Fortran

Mr Garside's report was distributed to those present at the

meeting. It is to be further developed as a discussion

document to be available in time for the Workshop in April. A

notice inviting contributions to the Working Party is to appear

in the February, 1971 Computer Bulletin; it was thought that

those using mini-computers were not aware of the existence of

the Working Party.

(Mr Garside's address is: Computing Laboratory, Cornwallis

Building, The University, Canterbury, Kent).

(c) Fortran Extensions

Mr Shearing presented his Working Party's report, which had been

distributed prior to the meeting and is also to be published in

the February, 1971 Computer Bulletin. Mr Shearing said that the

report was for discussion: some minor errors had already been

noticed, and in particular, pages 5 and 8 may be amended slightly

before publicationc There were suggestions for further

extensions but no objections to the report were raised at the

meeting.

(Mr Shearing's address is: Alcock, Shearing & Partners,

8 Iddesleigh House, Caxton Street, London, S.W.1.)

4. EDINBURGH      Mr R. E. Day outlined arrangements for the Workshop which is to

   WORKSHOP       be held on April 6th and 7th, 1971 and circulated copies of a

                  draft publicity leaflet. It was decided:

(a) to suggest to the B.C.S, Edinburgh Branch that Mrs Barritt

be invited to be Chairman of the Conference.

(b) that the discussion group topics on the publicity leaflet be:

Conversational Fortran

Small-machine Fortran

Fortran's relationship with the operating system

Run-time diagnostics and error control

Program structure

Input-output (including FORMAT)

Executable statements

Additional types

It was intended that the publicity leaflet be inserted in

the February Computer Bulletin.

Mr Day is to arrange for copies of the Working Party reports

to be available at the Workshop.

5. DATE OF NEXT It was left to the Steering Committee to decide the date

   MEETING      of the next meeting.

[The Steering Committee met on 14 May 1971 and arranged for the next Group
meeting to be held on 21 October 1971]