[Info-vax] fortran compiler roadmap?

[Phillip Helbig---undress to reply]

In article <kklnsc$b2a$1 at speranza.aioe.org>, Anton Shterenlikht
<mexas at mech-cluster241.men.bris.ac.uk> writes: 

> Does anybody have any information regarding the
> future of HP VMS fortran compiler? In particular,
> do any HP VMS fortran roadmaps include plans to
> support 2003 or 2008 fortran standards?
> Or is it staying at 1995 standard for now?

I've asked this in various places at various times over the last few 
years.  I think the answer is that we will probably never see a Fortran 
compiler from the owner of VMS which supports any standard later than 
F95.  Sic transit gloria mundi.  There was a time when VMS Fortran (in 
particular VAX Fortran) was the gold standard.  (The Alpha compiler is 
good as well, it's just that by the time it supported F90, VMS wasn't as 
popular as it was back in the VAX days.)

When the alphacide occurred, most of the Fortran folks ended up at 
Intel.  In some cases working on Fortran compilers which later showed up 
on VMS.  However, I think the process was rather complicated (I think 
John Regan once alluded to this here), there was more distance between 
VMS and the compiler and it received a much lower priority.