Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!wuarchive!rex!uflorida!bernhold From: bernhold@red8 (David E. Bernholdt) Newsgroups: comp.lang.fortran Subject: Fortran formatted I/O (was Re: Left justify of integers.) Message-ID: <28908@uflorida.cis.ufl.EDU> Date: 3 Jun 91 15:32:17 GMT References: <1991Jun1.043052.29008@jato.jpl.nasa.gov> Sender: news@uflorida.cis.ufl.EDU Organization: Quantum Theory Project, Univ. of Florida Lines: 30 In article userAKDU@mts.ucs.UAlberta.CA (Al Dunbar) writes: >Seems odd that such simple everyday useful things [proposed new edit > descriptors] would be left changes to the language. out, while they did deal >with much more complex and contentious An anecdote about Fortran formatted I/O and edit descriptors: I first learned Fortran in order to take a proficiency exam for an Intro Fortran course in college. I knew BASIC, Pascal, a little assembler, and my advisor thought I should be able to just study up on Fortran and take the test -- I knew how to program, I just needed to learn the language. I learned Fortran from Katzan's "Fortran77" (highly recommended by the way, though I understand its out of print) in a few days and took the exam having never written a line of real Fortran code in my life. The professor who graded the exams remarked that I was the only one who used list-directed I/O. She thought that was "interesting." I didn't tell her that it was because the formatted I/O had made _no_ sense to me when I read about it. I did well enough to pass the test. Since then, I've done enough Fortran programming to more than make up for any lack when I took that exam. Though I now understand formatted I/O, I still find it one of the most cumbersome and inhibitory (in terms of getting the format you really want) aspects of the language. -- David Bernholdt bernhold@qtp.ufl.edu Quantum Theory Project bernhold@ufpine.bitnet University of Florida Gainesville, FL 32611 904/392 6365