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From: dik@cwi.nl (Dik T. Winter)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.fortran
Subject: Re: Implicit parameters in Sun 1.3.1 Fortran: Bug
Message-ID: <2920@charon.cwi.nl>
Date: 9 Feb 91 02:25:48 GMT
References: <1991Feb07.225518.22499@ariel.unm.edu> <14062@lanl.gov>
Sender: news@cwi.nl
Organization: CWI, Amsterdam
Lines: 17

Is it a bug?  I just read the message from Jim Giles, which was similar to
mine:  if you are mixing cases all bets are off in Fortran 77.  But Jim,
like me, assumed it was a bug, because the compiler is not case sensitive.
On reflection my opinion is that it is not a bug, whatever way you want
to read the standard.  The program uses 'REAL*8', but that is not in the
Fortran 77 standard!  The only type specifier that allows a length
according to the standard is 'CHARACTER'.  Of course many compilers allow
length specifications on other types as well, but if you use them, again,
all bets are off.  (For instance: can you use REAL*5?  Perfectly legal in
ICL Fortran!)  And there are indeed Fortran 77 compilers around that do
not allow a length specification for type 'REAL' and 'INTEGER' and 'COMPLEX'.
(I just tried.)  As the original poster said, the problem goes away if
'DOUBLE PRECISION' is used in stead of 'REAL*8'.  So it is not a bug, but
a feature.  This is a 'Quality of implementation' issue.
--
dik t. winter, cwi, amsterdam, nederland
dik@cwi.nl