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From: chidsey@smoke.brl.mil (Irving Chidsey)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.fortran
Subject: Re: Fortran 90 status
Message-ID: <16101@smoke.brl.mil>
Date: 10 May 91 19:36:58 GMT
References: <1991Apr26.210247.17264@ariel.unm.edu> <3246@travis.csd.harris.com> <1991May10.002337.22669@ariel.unm.edu>
Distribution: comp
Organization: U.S. Army Ballistic Research Laboratory, APG, MD.
Lines: 34

In article <1991May10.002337.22669@ariel.unm.edu> prentice@triton.unm.edu (John Prentice) writes:
<
<My other comment is really more to the point however.  The real issue is that
<if we keep going the way we are, Fortran is going to become so obsolete that
<it is no longer viable.  15 to 20 years between modernizations of
<the language is too long.  I still advocate either frequent updates to the
<standard which incorporate existing practice or alternately just giving
<up on the whole concept of standards.  I know there are lots of arguments
<against both ideas, but I haven't yet heard a suggestion that is any
<better.  This much is for sure however, the current system doesn't work.
<
<John K. Prentice    john@unmfys.unm.edu (Internet)

	Most of us don't need the ultimate in powe, speed, and memory
very often.  We are more apt to need ease and safety in programming.
I do not think the needs of us rabble need to be in conflict with the
needs of people like John.  He needs a standard fortran, modified to
fit a state of the art computer architecture and extend it to the utmost.

	Could we not agree to add to Fortran every 5 years or so those
new constructs which have proven to be valuable, discuss those directions
that might be desirable to explore next, but to only standardize on that
which was proven?  A variety of architectures is likely to require a variety
of extensions, and too early standardization might preclude easy exploitation
of features that are not understood, or even considered, at what are now
over delayed updates to Fortran.

								Irv

-- 
I do not have signature authority.  I am not authorized to sign anything.
I am not authorized to commit the BRL, the DA, the DOD, or the US Government
to anything, not even by implication.  They do not tell me what their policy 
is.  They may not have one.		Irving L. Chidsey  <chidsey@brl.mil>