Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!uwm.edu!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!aplcen!haven!umbc3!mbph!hybl From: hybl@mbph.UUCP (Albert Hybl Dept of Biophysics SM) Newsgroups: comp.lang.fortran Subject: Re: Two Fortran Standards Summary: I favor the punishment inflicted upon Prometheus Message-ID: <609@mbph.UUCP> Date: 13 Sep 89 15:34:50 GMT References: <:> <1073@cernvax.UUCP> <1989Sep13.001659.721@agate.berkeley.edu> Organization: University of Maryland, School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21201 Lines: 71 In message <1989Sep13.001659.721@agate.berkeley.edu> from jerry@violet.berkeley.edu, Jerry Berkman writes >I assume from this that you think vendors supplying "Satanic character aliases" >in Fortran 77 should be tarred and feathered! Actually, I favor the punishment inflicted upon Prometheus. I must defer to someone on the X3J3 committee to explain why they didn't provide for double complex, REAL*16 and INTEGER*2. >There are some projects which could not function without those variable types. Perhaps the X3J3 is too much dominated by the vendors and they didn't talk early enough and long enough with the real users. How much opportunity did you have to express you perceived need to the pre-1978 X3J3 committee? To the 1989 X3J3 committee? >For that matter, I have been writting Fortran programs in lower case >for 8-10 years, and don't feel any guilt about using that extension. >I feel similarly about "z" format terms and "include" statements. I use mixed case, c-language #include "filename" statements and in-line comments in my code. I pass my code through a vendor sensitive filter to produce fortran source appropriate for the target machine. I DO NOT need any implementor extensions. >On the Cray, my favorite timing tool is the "rtc()" intrinsic function; >... I can do very accurate timings of small loops. It's not portable; >I would however, like a portable cpu time used subroutine or function. >Fortran 8x does not include such a function ... >My point is that there have been many useful extensions to the >standard, and that there will continue to be useful extensions. A "rtc()" intrinsic function would be useful to vendors, users and especially to programmers writing benchmark programs. I have only one application where I need to extract the cpu time from the system. This kind of problem can be handled by collecting a small set of routines written in assembler or C that are specific for each different implementation. (The code for such routines are usually readily available.) On my 3B1/SVS, I wrote a CALL SYSGET('string') routine to provide for system calls. For example, to get cpu timing information I compile the following line into my code: Call sysget('ps -e|grep a[.].*|tr -s " "|cut -f4 -d" ">ps.time') Obviously, my timing problem is not crucial but, again, it shows that I didn't need an implementor extension. >We can't freeze Fortran. After our law makers write and pass laws, the laws appear in a publication of state or federal statutes. The legislature will try to correct a discovered flaw or ambiguity in a law during their next session. In rare cases, a special session may be called to tackle the problem. Ambiguities in the law can also be resolved by the courts. All new laws, recently revised laws and notes of court cases are placed in the "Cumulative Annual Pocket Part" which is placed in the back of the appropriate volume of the statutes. Clearly sections 1.3.2.(4) and part of section 1.4 in X3.9-1978 MUST be deleted! The standards making body should produce a "Cumulative Annual Pocket Part" that is published in FORTRAN forum and other appropriate media. There must be an adjudication mechanism. The standards organization must have a registered trademark for the FORTRAN Language. A Fortran Validation Suite must be created, updated and revised annually. Before a compiler is allowed to use the trademark, it must pass the validation tests. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Albert Hybl, PhD. Office UUCP: uunet!mimsy!mbph!hybl Department of Biophysics Home UUCP: uunet!mimsy!mbph!hybl!ah University of Maryland CoSy: ahybl School of Medicine Baltimore, MD 21201 Phone: (301) 328-7940 (Office) ----------------------------------------------------------------------