This summary of the tentative design of CASL is intended for readers who are already familiar with the main concepts involved, which are therefore reviewed only briefly.
The CoFI Semantics, Tools, Methodology, and Reactive Systems task groups are to assess the tentative design from their various perspectives, at the same time starting to prepare some of the relevant associated documents that should eventually accompany the CASL Reference Manual. A Higher-Order Task Group is to be set up, to investigate extensions of CASL to include higher-order functions. The Language Design Task Group is to design a concrete syntax for CASL (the tentative language design provides only the abstract syntax) in collaboration with the Tools Task Group, and to prepare examples of specifications.
Provided that the changes to the tentative design subsequently suggested by the various task groups are not too dramatic, the plan is to converge on a firm CASL Design Proposal by March 1997. This proposal should then be open to public debate for at least a month, before submission to the sponsoring IFIP Working Group on Foundations of System Specification (WG 1.3) for approval, in May 1997.
Note, however, that the Common Framework Initiative is currently a voluntary, unfunded effort, and the plans outlined above may change, in response to fluctuations in the available human resources.