Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!mcsun!sunic!tut!tukki!sakkinen
From: sakkinen@tukki.jyu.fi (Markku Sakkinen)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.fortran
Subject: Re: Standard conformance
Message-ID: <1722@tukki.jyu.fi>
Date: 20 Oct 89 13:38:03 GMT
References: <1301@tukki.jyu.fi> <612@mbph.UUCP> <1099@key.COM> <1412@tukki.jyu.fi>
Reply-To: sakkinen@jytko.jyu.fi (Markku Sakkinen)
          SAKKINEN@FINJYU.bitnet (alternative)
Organization: University of Jyvaskyla, Finland
Lines: 26

In message <1301@tukki.jyu.fi> from sakkinen@tukki.jyu.fi,
I presented a sample programme about an illegal jump into a DO loop,
in which many current compilers are unable to find the error.

Larry Rolison from Unisys, who has no direct access to the Internet,
sent me a letter pointing out that the latest FORTRAN compiler for
the Unisys 1100/2200 family, in whose implementation team he has
been a member, does in fact detect illegal branches into an IF block,
WHERE block or DO-loop. The letter ends thus:

"So don't be pessimistic about quality of implementation of FORTRAN
compilers, either for FORTRAN 77 or Fortran 8x; those of us that
really care will get it right."

Let's hope he's right. There was a time when I had a slogan:
"Don't mistake a Formula Translator for a programming language",
but today it is perhaps more important to warn people:
"Don't mistake a block-structured assembly language for a high-level
programming language".

Markku Sakkinen
Department of Computer Science
University of Jyvaskyla (a's with umlauts)
Seminaarinkatu 15
SF-40100 Jyvaskyla (umlauts again)
Finland