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From: turner@sdti.UUCP (Prescott K. Turner)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.c
Subject: Re: compilers and linkers
Message-ID: <180@sdti.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 17-Nov-87 15:26:27 EST
Article-I.D.: sdti.180
Posted: Tue Nov 17 15:26:27 1987
Date-Received: Sat, 21-Nov-87 01:14:12 EST
References: <33890@sun.uucp> <387@sdcc15.UUCP>
Reply-To: turner%sdti@harvard.harvard.edu (Prescott K. Turner, Jr.)
Organization: Software Development Technologies, Sudbury MA
Lines: 18
Summary: Fortran does not always pass addresses

In article <387@sdcc15.UUCP>, gp3147@sdcc15.UUCP (Tom Stockfisch) writes:
> In article <33890@sun.uucp>, limes%ouroborous@Sun.COM (Greg Limes) writes:
> > ...In at least one FORTRAN compiler that I know of, parameters are
> > passed by address to subroutines.
> This is true of ALL Fortran compilers.

Fortran would be better off if this were so.  However, both the Fortran 77
standard and the new proposed Fortran restrict the kinds of aliasing which
a program can use, so that compilers can handle parameters by 
copy-in/copy-out.  Some important implementations actually do it this way.
I believe IBM's mainframe compilers are examples, and pass REAL scalars
this way.

--
Prescott K. Turner, Jr.
Software Development Technologies, Inc.
375 Dutton Rd., Sudbury, MA 01776 USA        (617) 443-5779
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