Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!wuarchive!brutus.cs.uiuc.edu!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!mailrus!uflorida!novavax!hcx1!bill From: bill@ssd.harris.com (Bill Leonard) Newsgroups: comp.lang.fortran Subject: Re: Two Fortran Standards Message-ID: Date: 23 Aug 89 18:23:19 GMT References: <282@unmvax.unm.edu> <290@unmvax.unm.edu> Sender: news@hcx1.UUCP Organization: Harris Computer Systems Division Lines: 35 In-reply-to: brainerd@unmvax.unm.edu's message of 19 Aug 89 15:44:33 GMT > a) Probably most of us wouldn't have bothered. "New" languages seldom > succeed, whatever their virtues. Does that mean, Walt, that you admit that FORTRAN/8x is a new language? Retaining FORTRAN/77 does not make it so, but its content certainly may. > b) If it had been done, a very different standard would have been > developed. Fortran 8x has been kludged to death, creating some > horrible messes trying to accommodate those who want to make all > of the features of F77 be integrated with the new ones. Having > caused this mess, now some like Bill say it should stand on its own. > This can be nothing more than one more attempt to kill any effort > to create a revised, modern Fortran, while using the evolutionary > approach to protect the investment in current Fortran programs > and programmers. I must say I find it amusing that, having consistently voted against FORTRAN/8x, I am now being blamed for it. :-) I also find it odd that, having consistently voted YES numerous times on the question "Do you approve of the technical content of [latest draft]?", Walt now calls it a "kludge" and a "mess", and says he would do it differently. I find it incredible that anyone can argue for protecting "the investment in FORTRAN programs and programmers", and yet argue against retaining the one product they all currently use: FORTRAN/77. I may be one small voice crying in the wilderness, but I will always support the public's right to choose. What a radical idea for an American! -- Bill Leonard Harris Computer Systems Division 2101 W. Cypress Creek Road Fort Lauderdale, FL 33309 bill@ssd.harris.com or hcx1!bill@uunet.uu.net