standards development process

[Doug Gwyn]

In article <10314 at tut.cis.ohio-state.edu> lvc at tut.cis.ohio-state.edu (Lawrence V. Cipriani) writes:
>As another writer said in response, there are many perfectly good
>reasons why users don't get involved, cost is a big one, lack of
>time another.

Now, hold on.  If someone doesn't care enough to get involved, why
should any attention be paid to their desires?  I've been known to
spend my own money to attend meetings and conferences, and I'm not
exactly rolling in money myself (and I certainly don't have any
spare time!).  At the very least, concerned individuals could
communicate with the X3J11 committee or its individual members,
and many have indeed done so, thereby helping shape the proposed
Standard.  I don't have much sympathy for those who think X3J11
should have made a special effort to seek out their opinions
(except possibly for Dennis Ritchie, who appears to have been kept
pretty much apprised of X3J11 developments).

>I bet only 20% of the C users ever heard of ANSI-C.

Only the 20% who care enough about the language to have opinions
worth listening to, I bet.  The ANSI C standardization effort has
been publicized for years in columns in trade journals and elsewhere.
It has hardly been a secret.  Do you think X3J11 should have bought
space for ads in the comics pages of major newspapers in order to
reach the rest of the C programmers?