Japanese Activities toward Lisp Standardization

[Taiichi Yuasa <yuasa%kurims.kurims.kyoto-u.junet%utokyo-relay.csnet@RELAY.CS.NET>]

            Japanese Activities toward Lisp Standardization


The demand for Lisp standardization has been growing rapidly in Japanese
computer industries and academic organizations.  AIST (Agency of Industrial
Science and Technology), which is responsible for Japan Industrial Standards
(JIS in short), has initiated its activity toward JIS Lisp standardization.
In April 1986, in response to the request from AIST, a working group for Lisp
standardization was formed at JEIDA (Japan Electronic Industry Development
Association).  After one year's preliminary discussions, the following
committee "JEIDA Committee for Lisp Standardization" was formed and its
active efforts have begun in June 1987.  The aim of this committee is to
develop a Lisp language specification suitable for JIS standard in cooperation
with ISO and the organizations for Lisp standardization in other countries.

    JEIDA Committee for Lisp Standardization
    ----------------------------------------

    Chairman:
        Takayasu Ito (Tohoku University)
    Secretaries:
        Tsuneo Furuyama (NTT: Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp.)
        Fumio Motoyoshi (ETL: Electrotechnical Laboratory)
        Taiichi Yuasa (Kyoto University)
    Members from Major Computer Companies:
        Fujitsu Ltd.
        Hitachi Ltd.
        IBM Japan Ltd.
        Mitsubishi Electric Corp.
        NEC Corp.
        Oki Electric Industry Co. Ltd.
        Toshiba Corp.
    Observers:
        Masayuki Ida (Aoyama Gakuin University)
        Tetsuo Ida (The Institute of Physical and Chemical Research)
        Ryo Kamito (AIST)
        Masakazu Nakanishi (Keio University)
        Takehisa Nireki (JEIDA)
        Kentaro Shimizu (University of Tokyo)

Technical issues for Lisp standardization will be discussed by the subsidiary
working group "JEIDA Technical Working Group for Lisp Standardization", or
TG/A in short.  This group started technical discussions soon after it was
formed in August 1987.  It has been agreed that Common Lisp is a good starting
point for technical discussions.  But various technical deficiencies of Common
Lisp have been already pointed out at TG/A.  The role of TG/A is to clear up
major technical issues for Lisp standardization, continuing detailed technical
examinations on Common Lisp and other Lisp dialects.

    JEIDA Technical Working Group for Lisp Standardization
    ------------------------------------------------------

    Chairman:
        Taiichi Yuasa (Research Institute for Mathematical Sciences,
                       Kyoto University)
    Members:
        Takashi Chikayama (ICOT)
        Etsuya Shibayama (Dept. of Information Science,
                          Tokyo Institute of Technology)
        Kentaro Shimizu (Dept. of Information Science, University of Tokyo)
        Akikazu Takeuchi (Central Research Lab., Mitsubishi Electric Corp.)
        Kyoji Umemura (NTT Software Lab., NTT)
    Advisors:
        Toshiaki Kurokawa (Tokyo Research Lab., IBM Japan Ltd.)
        Michiaki Yasumura (Central Research Lab., Hitachi Ltd.)

Anyone interested in Japanese activities for Lisp standardization should
contact:

        Professor Takayasu Ito
        Department of Information Engineering
        School of Engineering
        Tohoku University
        Sendai 980, Japan
        Junet: chairlsp@nttlab.ntt.junet
or
        Dr. Taiichi Yuasa
        Research Institute for Mathematical Sciences
        Kyoto University
        Kyoto 606, Japan
        Junet: yuasa@kurims.kurims.kyoto-u.junet