Terminal Column Number

[sampson@cod.NOSC.MIL (Charles H. Sampson)]

      Another article, titled TEXT_IO Anomaly, pointed out that the column
number for STANDARD_OUTPUT is unaffected by STANDARD_INPUT.  In particular,
the carriage return that terminates an input line does not set the column
number for STANDARD_OUTPUT to 1, even though the cursor is now blinking at
the left margin.

     From the ensuing discussion it seems clear to me that this behaviour is
a correct interpretation of the LRM.  My question is, "Is it useful?"  Does
anyone know of a meaningful piece of code that makes use of the column num-
ber for STANDARD_OUTPUT as it is currently implemented by (apparently) all
compiler writers?  (I don't know how other readers feel, but the less toy-
like an example is the more I find it convincing.)

                            Charlie Sampson