From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on polar.synack.me X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-1.9 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00 autolearn=unavailable autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 Path: border2.nntp.dca.giganews.com!nntp.giganews.com!usenet.blueworldhosting.com!feeder01.blueworldhosting.com!eternal-september.org!feeder.eternal-september.org!news.eternal-september.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail From: Simon Clubley Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Subject: Re: Delays for implementations of Fortran features Date: Sat, 18 Jan 2014 13:03:30 +0000 (UTC) Organization: A noiseless patient Spider Message-ID: References: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Injection-Date: Sat, 18 Jan 2014 13:03:30 +0000 (UTC) Injection-Info: mx05.eternal-september.org; posting-host="20346705552a2814541d371dd17ad4a3"; logging-data="17641"; mail-complaints-to="abuse@eternal-september.org"; posting-account="U2FsdGVkX18OkL9AJG6mKPxMED4QyA0Xx2nN75f9hCM=" User-Agent: slrn/0.9.9p1 (Linux) Cancel-Lock: sha1:gc1y8ZXv6TIUDI8Z2gBjzQ3oaEw= Xref: number.nntp.dca.giganews.com comp.lang.ada:184460 Date: 2014-01-18T13:03:30+00:00 List-Id: On 2014-01-18, Colin Paul Gloster wrote: > This message is in MIME format. The first part should be readable text, > while the remaining parts are likely unreadable without MIME-aware tools. > > --8323328-1982622538-1390048774=:23391 > Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; CHARSET=UTF-8; format=flowed > Content-Transfer-Encoding: QUOTED-PRINTABLE > Content-ID: > > Dear Ada programmers: > > Compilers for Fortran codes are lagging behind the Fortran standard. > Please do not post MIME messages to a plain text medium. I have left the full message in so you can see how it appears to others. Oh, and I have noticed you tend to post quoted messages in some full width box and use tab/space indentation instead of just adding a extra quote character at the start of the line like everyone else does. That makes it difficult to quote messages in replies, especially when you want to comment on a message two or three levels up the message thread while also commenting on the latest message. Now onto my response to your message, which can be accurately summed up as "so ?". If people have a large Fortran code base, they are going to work within the limits of the compilers they have to work with; they are unlikely to rewrite everything in Ada. A Ada programmer OTOH may well choose to write that algorithm in Ada in the first place instead of switching to Fortran, but they need to be a Ada programmer in the first place. Simon. > Regards, > Colin Paul Gloster > > > > On January 13th, 2014, Tom Clune sent to COMP-FORTRAN-90@JISCMail.ac.UK: >|--------------------------------------------------------------------------= > --| >|"On Jan 12, 2014, at 4:44 PM, John Harper wrote: = > | >| = > | >| On Fri, 10 Jan 2014, Tom Clune wrote: = > | >| = > | >| Date: Fri, 10 Jan 2014 12:48:54 -0500 = > | >| From: Tom Clune = > | >| Reply-To: Fortran 90 List = > | >| = > | >| To: COMP-FORTRAN-90@JISCMAIL.AC.UK = > | >| Subject: Re: retraction (was Re: Is this legal = > | >| (F2003 or F2008)?) = > | >| = > | >| On Jan 10, 2014, at 11:36 AM, "Lionel, Steve" = > | >| wrote: = > | >| = > | >| Tom Clune wrote: = > | >| = > | >| =E2=9E=A2 The strategy I posted yesterday was = > | >| flawed in that it attempted to assign a = > | >| pointer to an internal procedure. Most = > | >| compiler accepted it, and I had not = > | >| realized that such a restriction = > | >| existed. = > | >| = > | >| That is legal F2008, and some compilers = > | >| have supported it for a while. = > | >| = > | >| = > | >| Steve, = > | >| = > | >| Thanks for the clarification. = > | >| = > | >| It has become an interesting juggling act for = > | >| developers that must choose between portability and = > | >| powerful new features. There are a number of = > | >| things in F2008 that I would absolutely use if all 3 = > | >| of my baseline compilers supported them. (I don't = > | >| intend to name names here.) = > | >| = > | >| Cheers, = > | >| = > | >| - Tom = > | >| = > | >| = > | >| You're lucky if your only problem is unsupported f2008 features. = > | >| I still avoid f2003 features because some of them are = > | >| unsupported by some of the = > | >| 4 compilers I use. So I'm stuck with a Fortran dialect that's 11 = > | >| years = > | >| out of date. One non-f95 feature I use occasionally is SYSTEM = > | >| which is non-standard but all 4 compilers support it, albeit in = > | >| different ways: some treat it as an intrinsic subroutine, others = > | >| as an always-available external one, but that's OK if the = > | >| program says neither INTRINSIC SYSTEM nor EXTERNAL SYSTEM. I use = > | >| it because the compilers don't all support = > | >| the f2008 feature EXECUTE_COMMAND_LINE. = > | >| = > | >| = > | >|Sure, there are some F2003 features that I must avoid because one or more = > | >|compiler does not support them. One fear that I have is that I've = > | >|"learned" to avoid some of these features and will never integrate them in= > to| >|my code when they become available. OTOH, I eagerly await the day that = > | >|gfortran supports deferred-length strings as structure components. = > | >| = > | >|And, like yourself, I will use nonstandard, but widely portable extensions= > | >|such as SYSTEM when appropriate. Occasionally I'll even use #ifdef to = > | >|kludge a solution for a compiler that lacks a feature (e.g. = > | >|EXECUTE_COMMAND_LINE, ERROR STOP, etc.) However, conditional = > | >|compilation is rather limited for working around many missing/broken OO = > | >|features. = > | >| = > | >|Cheers, = > | >| = > | >|- Tom = > | >| = > | >| = > | >| = > | >| = > | >| -- John Harper, School of Mathematics Statistics and Operations = > | >| Research = > | >| Victoria University, PO Box 600, Wellington 6140, New Zealand = > | >| e-mail john.harper@vuw.ac.nz phone (+64)(4)463 5276 fax = > | >| (+64)(4)463 5045 = > | >| = > | >| = > | >|Thomas Clune, Ph. D. = > | >|Chief, Software Systems Support Office Code 610.3 = > | >|NASA GSFC 301-286-4635 = > | >|MS 610.8 B33-C128 = > | >|Greenbelt, MD 20771" = > | >|--------------------------------------------------------------------------= > --| > --8323328-1982622538-1390048774=:23391-- -- Simon Clubley, clubley@remove_me.eisner.decus.org-Earth.UFP [Note: email address not currently working as the system is physically moving] Microsoft: Bringing you 1980s technology to a 21st century world