Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!pyrdc!pyrnj!rutgers!cmcl2!lanl!jlg
From: jlg@lanl.gov (Jim Giles)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.fortran
Subject: Re: Fortran vs C for computations
Message-ID: <3494@lanl.gov>
Date: 13 Sep 88 19:47:37 GMT
References: <391@quintus.UUCP>
Organization: Los Alamos National Laboratory
Lines: 30

From article <391@quintus.UUCP>, by ok@quintus.uucp (Richard A. O'Keefe):
> (3) If I develop a program on machine X and then later try to compile it
>     on machine Y I need the *SAME* preprocessor on both machines.  Giles
>     is right that it doesn't have to be in the _language_ standard, but
>     there _does_ have to be a preprocessor standard.  Does anyone wonder
>     why I treasure my copy of the public-domain Ratfor sources, or of the
>     public-domain M4?  Does anyone wonder why I _haven't_ bothered to get
>     my own copy of cpp?

Gee, because cpp is not _universally_ applicable to Fortran this means
Fortran _can't_ be preprocessed at all.  I gave cpp as an example, not
_only_ possibility.  I still stand by my original statement: Fortran 
_can_ be preprocessed!  I do it all the time.

Also: this statement (3) contains the assumption that preprocessing
_must_ be done on the same machine as compiling.  I haven't done that
for a long time.  I do code development for Crays.  I do text editing
and marco expanding for this Cray code on my Sun workstation.  You 
don't need the *SAME* preprocessor on any machine other than the one
you write code on (not the one you write code _for_, just the one that
you edit the source on).  You're assuming that the whole programming
environment changes every time you have a new _target_ machine.  The
advantage of workstations and PC's is that each developer can keep
his coding environment with him even if the target archetectures change
weekly.  And, PC's are finally getting powerful enough to make this
a personal ability of each developer (he isn't tied to the equipment
provided by his employer).

J. Giles
Los Alamos