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From: corbett@beatnix.UUCP (Bob Corbett)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.fortran
Subject: Fortran 8x:  implicit dereferencing
Message-ID: <2776@elxsi.UUCP>
Date: 27 Jun 89 02:52:15 GMT
Sender: news@elxsi.UUCP
Reply-To: uunet!elxsi!corbett (Bob Corbett)
Distribution: usa
Organization: ELXSI, San Jose
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     I lost track of the reference, but I recall reading that someone thought
implicit dereferencing of pointers is one of the things X3J3 got right.  I
suspect that if implicit dereferencing remains in the language, it will be
the most often cursed feature of the language.  In a sample Fortran 8x
program, Walt Brainerd wrote

       TRAIL_PTR = TMP_PTR

where he meant

       TRAIL_PTR => TMP_PTR

I believe this error is exemplar of what will be a common form of error in
Fortran 8x.  Now consider when this error will be detected.  It will not be
caught by the compiler or the run-time system because it is legal code.
Furthermore, the error will not manifest itself until some time after it
has occurred.  This problem will generally be harder to track down than the
infamous `=' in place of `==' problem in C.

                                                  Yours very truly,
						  Bob Corbett
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