[Info-vax] GCC for VMS, was: Re: fortran compiler roadmap?

[Bob Koehler]

In article <kl4b2h$n6h$1 at Iltempo.Update.UU.SE>, Johnny Billquist <bqt at softjar.se> writes:
> 
> I also seem to remember that strings in Fortran 77 under VMS could 
> actually be dynamic in length, but I might be remembering wrong. Too 
> long since I worked on that.

   Native Fortran strings still don't support dynamic lengths, even in
   the 2008 standard (there was a proposal, but I guess it didn't pass).
   The only work around is allocated variables, but those don't
   automagically change allocation.

   VMS Fortran compilers don't have an extension that I know of to
   enable dynamic length strings.

   But VMS programmers, in any language, can take adavantage of LIB$
   and STR$ routines that do dynamic length strings.  And there are
   dynamic length string library implementations in Fortran, using 
   allocated variables and user defined types, if you look around the
   'net.