[Info-vax] Fortran

[Simon Clubley]

On 2018-12-04, Dave Froble <davef at tsoft-inc.com> wrote:
> On 12/4/2018 9:25 AM, abrsvc wrote:
>>
>> The removal of Hollerith constants is ongoing in anticipation of the loss of support for those in future compilers.
>>

That code must be multiple decades old. I know it's a pain, especially
when certification is involved, but sometimes code needs to be
updated in light of more modern standards and safety requirements.

In some ways, it's no different than needing to update VAX C
code to work with modern C compilers. The updates are required
for a reason and the code is better as a result.

>
> Apparently there are those "bemoaning" the loss ....
>
> I got to ask, why were they removed?  Was it necessary?
>

They were removed because it is a concept which results in both
hard to read and hard to maintain code and which was replaced by
a safer option decades ago.

Fortran has had ideas which seemed good at the time but which have
not stood the test of time. The other one which comes immediately
to mind are common blocks whose definitions are repeated in more
than one place.

Simon.

-- 
Simon Clubley, clubley at remove_me.eisner.decus.org-Earth.UFP
Microsoft: Bringing you 1980s technology to a 21st century world