Ecma International
Encyclopedia
Ecma International is an international, private (membership-based) non-profit standards organization
for information and communication systems. It acquired its name in 1994, when the European Computer Manufacturers Association (ECMA) changed its name to reflect the organization's global reach and activities. As a consequence, the name is no longer considered an acronym and no longer uses full capitalization.
The organization was originally founded in 1961 to standardize computer systems in Europe
. Membership is open to large and small companies worldwide that produce, market or develop computer or communication systems, and have interest and experience in the areas addressed by the group's technical bodies. It is located in Geneva
.
Unlike national standardization bodies, Ecma is a membership-based organization. It takes pride in the resulting "business-like" approach to standards, claimed to lead to better standards in less time, thanks to a less bureaucratic process focused on achieving results by consensus.
For over 40 years Ecma has actively contributed to worldwide standardization in information technology and telecommunications. More than 370 Ecma Standards and 90 Technical Reports have been published, more than 2/3 of which have also been adopted as international standards and/or technical reports.
The memberlist of Ecma International is available here.
submitted its Java programming language
to Ecma, Sun subsequently withdrew the submission. Thus, Ecma is not responsible for the standardization of Java.
s, a next-generation high density storage medium capable of holding hundreds of gigabyte
s through to several terabyte
s on a CD
-sized disk. Ecma expects to submit a proposed standard to the International Organization for Standardization
for ISO
approval, around December 2006. On December 9, 2004 at its 88th General Assembly, Ecma International created Technical Committee 44, dedicated to standarizing HVD formats based on Optware's technology.
On June 11, 2007, TC44 published the first two HVD standards: ECMA-377, defining a 200 GB HVD "recordable cartridge" and ECMA-378, defining a 100 GB HVD-ROM disc. Its next stated goals are 30 GB HVD cards and submission of these standards to the International Organization for Standardization
for ISO approval.
office document formats by Microsoft
. The Ecma Office Open XML maintenance process is currently performed by technical committee 45 (TC45).
The IT Eco Declaration includes information on the environmental practices of the manufacturer as well as product features, such as environmentally conscious design, batteries, acoustic noise, electrical safety, energy consumption, chemical emissions, substances and materials included, and packaging. This makes it easy to compare different suppliers and their products, as they all present the environmental features of their products in the same way, through a common industry standard reporting form.
Standards organization
A standards organization, standards body, standards developing organization , or standards setting organization is any organization whose primary activities are developing, coordinating, promulgating, revising, amending, reissuing, interpreting, or otherwise producing technical standards that are...
for information and communication systems. It acquired its name in 1994, when the European Computer Manufacturers Association (ECMA) changed its name to reflect the organization's global reach and activities. As a consequence, the name is no longer considered an acronym and no longer uses full capitalization.
The organization was originally founded in 1961 to standardize computer systems in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
. Membership is open to large and small companies worldwide that produce, market or develop computer or communication systems, and have interest and experience in the areas addressed by the group's technical bodies. It is located in Geneva
Geneva
Geneva In the national languages of Switzerland the city is known as Genf , Ginevra and Genevra is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of Switzerland...
.
Aims
Ecma aims to develop standards and technical reports to facilitate and standardize the use of information communication technology and consumer electronics; encourage the correct use of standards by influencing the environment in which they are applied; and publish these standards and reports in electronic and printed form. Ecma publications, including standards, can be freely copied by all interested parties without copyright restrictions. The development of standards and technical reports is done in co-operation with the appropriate national, European and international organisations.Unlike national standardization bodies, Ecma is a membership-based organization. It takes pride in the resulting "business-like" approach to standards, claimed to lead to better standards in less time, thanks to a less bureaucratic process focused on achieving results by consensus.
For over 40 years Ecma has actively contributed to worldwide standardization in information technology and telecommunications. More than 370 Ecma Standards and 90 Technical Reports have been published, more than 2/3 of which have also been adopted as international standards and/or technical reports.
The memberlist of Ecma International is available here.
Standards
Ecma International is currently responsible for several standards, including the following:- ECMA-119 – CD-ROMCD-ROMA CD-ROM is a pre-pressed compact disc that contains data accessible to, but not writable by, a computer for data storage and music playback. The 1985 “Yellow Book” standard developed by Sony and Philips adapted the format to hold any form of binary data....
volume and filestructure (later known as ISO 9660ISO 9660ISO 9660, also referred to as CDFS by some hardware and software providers, is a file system standard published by the International Organization for Standardization for optical disc media....
) - ECMA-262 – ECMAScriptECMAScriptECMAScript is the scripting language standardized by Ecma International in the ECMA-262 specification and ISO/IEC 16262. The language is widely used for client-side scripting on the web, in the form of several well-known dialects such as JavaScript, JScript, and ActionScript.- History :JavaScript...
Language Specification (often referred to as JavaScript) - ECMA-334 – C# Language Specification
- ECMA-335 – Common Language Infrastructure (CLI)Common Language InfrastructureThe Common Language Infrastructure is an open specification developed by Microsoft and standardized by ISO and ECMA that describes the executable code and runtime environment that form the core of the Microsoft .NET Framework and the free and open source implementations Mono and Portable.NET...
- ECMA-341 – Environmental design considerations for electronic products
- ECMA-363 – Universal 3D File FormatUniversal 3DUniversal 3D is a compressed file format standard for 3D computer graphics data.The format was defined by a special consortium called 3D Industry Forum that brought together a diverse group of companies and organizations, including Intel, Boeing, HP, Adobe Systems, Bentley Systems, Right...
- ECMA-367 – Eiffel: Analysis, design and programming Language (See Eiffel programming languageEiffel (programming language)Eiffel is an ISO-standardized, object-oriented programming language designed by Bertrand Meyer and Eiffel Software. The design of the language is closely connected with the Eiffel programming method...
) - ECMA-372 – C++/CLIC++/CLIC++/CLI is Microsoft's language specification intended to supersede Managed Extensions for C++. It is a complete revision that aims to simplify the older Managed C++ syntax . C++/CLI is standardized by Ecma as ECMA-372...
Language Specification - ECMA-376 – Office Open XML (later known as ISO/IEC 29500)
- ECMA-377 – Holographic Versatile DiscHolographic Versatile DiscThe Holographic Versatile Disc is an optical disc technology developed between April 2004 and mid-2008 that can store up to several terabytes of data on an optical disc the same size as a CD, DVD or Blu-ray disc. It employs a technique known as collinear holography, whereby a green and red laser...
(HVD) Recordable Cartridges - ECMA-378 – Read-Only Memory Holographic Versatile Disc (HVD-ROM)
- ECMA-388 – Open XML Paper Specification
Java programming language
Although Sun MicrosystemsSun Microsystems
Sun Microsystems, Inc. was a company that sold :computers, computer components, :computer software, and :information technology services. Sun was founded on February 24, 1982...
submitted its Java programming language
Java (programming language)
Java is a programming language originally developed by James Gosling at Sun Microsystems and released in 1995 as a core component of Sun Microsystems' Java platform. The language derives much of its syntax from C and C++ but has a simpler object model and fewer low-level facilities...
to Ecma, Sun subsequently withdrew the submission. Thus, Ecma is not responsible for the standardization of Java.
Holographic Versatile Discs
Ecma has also been given the responsibility of steering the first international standards for Holographic Versatile DiscHolographic Versatile Disc
The Holographic Versatile Disc is an optical disc technology developed between April 2004 and mid-2008 that can store up to several terabytes of data on an optical disc the same size as a CD, DVD or Blu-ray disc. It employs a technique known as collinear holography, whereby a green and red laser...
s, a next-generation high density storage medium capable of holding hundreds of gigabyte
Gigabyte
The gigabyte is a multiple of the unit byte for digital information storage. The prefix giga means 109 in the International System of Units , therefore 1 gigabyte is...
s through to several terabyte
Terabyte
The terabyte is a multiple of the unit byte for digital information. The prefix tera means 1012 in the International System of Units , and therefore 1 terabyte is , or 1 trillion bytes, or 1000 gigabytes. 1 terabyte in binary prefixes is 0.9095 tebibytes, or 931.32 gibibytes...
s on a CD
Compact Disc
The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...
-sized disk. Ecma expects to submit a proposed standard to the International Organization for Standardization
International Organization for Standardization
The International Organization for Standardization , widely known as ISO, is an international standard-setting body composed of representatives from various national standards organizations. Founded on February 23, 1947, the organization promulgates worldwide proprietary, industrial and commercial...
for ISO
International Organization for Standardization
The International Organization for Standardization , widely known as ISO, is an international standard-setting body composed of representatives from various national standards organizations. Founded on February 23, 1947, the organization promulgates worldwide proprietary, industrial and commercial...
approval, around December 2006. On December 9, 2004 at its 88th General Assembly, Ecma International created Technical Committee 44, dedicated to standarizing HVD formats based on Optware's technology.
On June 11, 2007, TC44 published the first two HVD standards: ECMA-377, defining a 200 GB HVD "recordable cartridge" and ECMA-378, defining a 100 GB HVD-ROM disc. Its next stated goals are 30 GB HVD cards and submission of these standards to the International Organization for Standardization
International Organization for Standardization
The International Organization for Standardization , widely known as ISO, is an international standard-setting body composed of representatives from various national standards organizations. Founded on February 23, 1947, the organization promulgates worldwide proprietary, industrial and commercial...
for ISO approval.
Office Open XML formats
Ecma is involved in the standardization of the Ecma Office Open XML format based on the XMLXML
Extensible Markup Language is a set of rules for encoding documents in machine-readable form. It is defined in the XML 1.0 Specification produced by the W3C, and several other related specifications, all gratis open standards....
office document formats by Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
. The Ecma Office Open XML maintenance process is currently performed by technical committee 45 (TC45).
Eco Declaration
In Ecma International Standard 370, Ecma joined forces with the Scandinavian IT Eco Declaration organisation to put forward a guideline for informing consumers about the environmental practices of the manufacturers of ICT and consumer electronics products.The IT Eco Declaration includes information on the environmental practices of the manufacturer as well as product features, such as environmentally conscious design, batteries, acoustic noise, electrical safety, energy consumption, chemical emissions, substances and materials included, and packaging. This makes it easy to compare different suppliers and their products, as they all present the environmental features of their products in the same way, through a common industry standard reporting form.