Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!att!osu-cis!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!cwjcc!hal!nic.MR.NET!tank!uxc!uxc.cso.uiuc.edu!uxg.cso.uiuc.edu!uxe.cso.uiuc.edu!mcdonald
From: mcdonald@uxe.cso.uiuc.edu
Newsgroups: comp.lang.fortran
Subject: Re: Brainerd Comments - Response
Message-ID: <50500083@uxe.cso.uiuc.edu>
Date: 21 Oct 88 13:44:00 GMT
References: <758@a.lanl.gov>
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Nf-ID: #R:a.lanl.gov:758:uxe.cso.uiuc.edu:50500083:000:1381
Nf-From: uxe.cso.uiuc.edu!mcdonald    Oct 21 08:44:00 1988



>Representing users is a tricky business.  In spite of our best
>efforts, the user community disapproved of Fortran 8x by about
>2 to 1 in the public review.

What do you mean by "in spite of our best efforts"? I take it "our"
refers to "users" on the committee. But does "best efforts" mean
"best efforts" to represent real users on the committee - trying to
get the draft they want - or does it mean trying to convince 
real users that what the committee created is what the users "really
want"

I would like to point out that the representative of the University
of Illinois on the committee most certainly does not represent the
views of the computing community of the U of I Chemistry department,
wherein I reside. I am not aware of any systematic survey he made of
Fortran users here before "representing " us on the committee (
actually he may not really claim to represent us, so this can't be
taken as a complaint). He is a nice guy and quite happy to listen
to our views, but without some systematic effort (like a survey)
can't claim to be a representative.

(I would also like to thank someone, presumably him, for making
a public announcement in a well-distributed campus forum that X3J3
would be undertaking a revision of Fortran BEFORE it became too late
to give any input. I had several conversations with him long before
the draft became final).

Doug McDonald