As language development neared an end, X3J1/TC10 realized that there were a number of problems with a document written in English text. Discussion of a single item might appear in multiple places which might or might not agree. It was difficult to determine if there were omissions as well as inconsistencies. Consequently, David Beech (IBM), Robert Freiburghouse (Honeywell), Milton Barber (CDC), M. Donald MacLaren (Argonne National Laboratory), Craig Franklin (Data General), Lois Frampton (Digital Equipment Corporation), and editor, D.J. Andrews of IBM undertook to rewrite the entire document, each producing one or more complete chapters. The standard is couched as a formal definition using a "PL/I Machine" to specify the semantics. It was the first, and possibly the only, programming language standard to be written as a semi-formal definition.