Programming Language Standardization: Patterns for Participation

Abstract. A technical design team is a group that is chartered to collectively work to develop solutions to a set of related technical problems. A standards committee is a group is that chartered to produce the normative specification for some technology. A programming language standards committee is a standard committee that is also a technical design team and whose charter is both to develop technical enhancements to a programming language and to produce a normative specification for the extended language. Design teams and standards committees are social organizations and each has its own challenges for members who want to be effective participants. These challenges combine in programming language standards committees.

This paper presents the first steps towards defining a pattern language that provides guidance on how an individual can be an effective and productive participant on a programming language standards committee.