ISO accepts VDM proposal ; GKS Fortran binding

VDM. The Information Processing Technical Committee of the International Standards Organization (ISO TC97) has voted to commence work on a virtual device metafile standard for computer graphics. The action passed without a dissenting vote and was assigned to the Graphics Working Group of the Programming Languages Subcommittee (ISO TC97/SC5/WG2). Ten countries, including Canada, Germany, Japan, the UK, and the US, have indicated their intention to participate in this effort. The VDM provides a standardized method of storing graphic images for later processing and of exchanging images between graphics systems. The VDM project complements ISO's current work on the Graphical Kernel System (GKS), which standardizes the application programmer's interface to graphics systems. The VDM project is sponsored by ANSI through the Technical Committee on Computer Graphics (X3H3). X3H3 is making final technical revisions to the VDM working draft, prior to a four-month public review and comment period expected to start this fall. Concurrently, the VDM draft will be processed by ISO TC97/ SC5/WG2 experts on its way to becoming an international standard.