Editing Eiffel (programming language) (section)

===Specifications and standards===
The Eiffel language definition is an international standard of the [[International Organization for Standardization|ISO]]. The standard was developed by [[European Computer Manufacturers Association|ECMA International]], which first approved the standard on 21 June 2005 as Standard ECMA-367, Eiffel: Analysis, Design and Programming Language. In June 2006, ECMA and ISO adopted the second version. In November 2006, ISO first published that version. The standard can be found and used free of charge on the ECMA site.<ref>ECMA International: Standard ECMA-367{{snd}} Eiffel: Analysis, Design and Programming Language 2nd edition (June 2006); available online at [https://ecma-international.org/publications-and-standards/standards/ecma-367/ https://ecma-international.org/publications-and-standards/standards/ecma-367/]</ref> The ISO version<ref>International Organization for Standardization: Standard ISO/IEC DIS 25436, available online at [http://www.iso.org/iso/en/CatalogueDetailPage.CatalogueDetail?CSNUMBER=42924&ICS1=35&ICS2=60&ICS3=]</ref> is identical in all respects except formatting.

Eiffel Software, "The Eiffel Compiler" tecomp and Eiffel-library-developer Gobo have committed to implementing the standard; Eiffel Software's EiffelStudio 6.1 and "The Eiffel Compiler" tecomp implement some of the major new mechanisms—in particular, inline agents, assigner commands, bracket notation, non-conforming inheritance, and attached types. The [[SmartEiffel]] team has turned away from this standard to create its own version of the language, which they believe to be closer to the original style of Eiffel. Object Tools has not disclosed whether future versions of its Eiffel compiler will comply with the standard. [[LibertyEiffel]] implements a dialect somewhere in between the [[SmartEiffel]] language and the standard.

The standard cites the following, predecessor Eiffel-language specifications:

* Bertrand Meyer: ''Eiffel: The Language'', Prentice Hall, second printing, 1992 (first printing: 1991)
* Bertrand Meyer: ''Standard Eiffel'' (revision of preceding entry), ongoing, 1997–present, at Bertrand Meyer's ETL3 page, and
* Bertrand Meyer: ''Object-Oriented Software Construction'', Prentice Hall: first edition, 1988; second edition, 1997.
* Bertrand Meyer: ''Touch of Class: Learning to Program Well with Objects and Contracts'', Springer-Verlag, 2009 {{ISBN|978-3-540-92144-8}} lxiv + 876 pages Full-color printing, numerous color photographs

The current version of the standard from June 2006 contains some inconsistencies (e.g. covariant redefinitions){{Citation needed|date=October 2010}}. The ECMA committee has not yet announced any timeline and direction on how to resolve the inconsistencies.