Path: utzoo!utgpu!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!lll-lcc!ames!pasteur!ucbvax!husc6!spdcc!ima!johnl
From: johnl@ima.ima.isc.com (John R. Levine)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.fortran
Subject: Re: An exercise in fultility
Summary: trademarks and validation suites are no panacaea
Keywords: tradmark validation_suite portability
Message-ID: <3135@ima.ima.isc.com>
Date: 6 Jan 89 14:50:24 GMT
References: <584@mbph.UUCP>
Reply-To: johnl@ima.UUCP (John R. Levine)
Organization: Segue Software, Inc.
Lines: 21

In article <584@mbph.UUCP> hybl@mbph.UUCP (Albert Hybl  Dept of Biophysics  SM) writes:
>...  As a user, I want every compilerto produce the same result. ...
>
>I think that a trademark must be registered for the Language.
>A Fortran Validation Suite must be created and before a compiler
>is allowed to use the trademark it must pass the validation tests.

Fortran originally was a trademark, but IBM released it into the public
domain in about 1960.  Trademark protection buys very little, other vendors
used names like Honeywell Algebraic Compiler, Altac, For Transit and whatever,
not unlike the various euphemisms for Unix currrently in use due to AT&T's
unwillingness to license their trademark until recently.

Besides, there are validation suites for Fortran.  The NBS or whatever it's
called these days has a fairly nice one, but considering the problems that
many compilers have getting the correct result for correct programs, asking
for consistent responses in error conditions is a lost cause.
-- 
John R. Levine, Segue Software, POB 349, Cambridge MA 02238, +1 617 492 3869
{ bbn | spdcc | decvax | harvard | yale }!ima!johnl, Levine@YALE.something
You're never too old to have a happy childhood.