Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!ncar!ames!hc!lanl!a!alm
From: alm@a.lanl.gov (Alex Marusak)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.fortran
Subject: Re: yes vs. no on f8x
Keywords: f8x, x3j3, wg5, ansi
Message-ID: <867@a.lanl.gov>
Date: 13 Apr 89 17:39:03 GMT
References: <24130@beta.lanl.gov> <98678@sun.Eng.Sun.COM>
Organization: Los Alamos National Laboratory
Lines: 42

In article <98678@sun.Eng.Sun.COM>, khb@fatcity.Sun.COM (Keith Bierman Sun Tactical Engineering) writes:
> 
> Au contrai (sp). Alex Marzuk and Igor Phillips are both anit-draft and
> very well informed. I appreciate their positions, and respect their
> depth of understanding.

Alex L. Marusak and Ivor R. Philips (in absentia) thank you.
I respect your opinions as well.
> 
> Nor should it be infered that they are the only folks who are
> informed and still against the proposed standard. What is irksome is
> that I still find people who completely in the dark, but firmly
> against the proposal. 

This is the crux of X3J3's problem.  I think you have profoundly
misunderstood the public review comments.  The scientists and
engineers are not saying that they lack the brainpower to learn
Fortran 8x. They are saying that they don't WANT to. They believe
that Fortran should be a powerful tool to be used and appreciated,
not a hurdle to be overcome.

When I joined X3J3 in the early '80s, I had the following rule of
thumb: I would read a proposal, and if I didn't understand it I
would read it again. If I still didn't understand it, I would vote
'no'.

I still have this rule of thumb, but unfortunately I'm now too
familiar with the writing styles of X3J3.  On a clear day and
with a running start, I can read the most turgid of prose and
make sense of it (sort of like this note I'm generating).  I am
so used to going right to the fine points that I tend to forget
how awful it really is.

I (re)read the current draft from cover to cover, and I thoroughly
enjoyed the experience.  I also like to do the Sunday crossword
puzzle in ink.

Mr. Bierman, the public is telling you and me that they have other
important things to do.

Regards,
Alex Marusak