[Info-vax] Fortran

[Dave Froble]

On 12/5/2018 3:26 AM, Simon Clubley wrote:
> 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.
>

The question remains, was it necessary?

If the compiler could have continued to support the "hard to read and 
maintain code", and there was no reason to remove the capability, then 
that should not have been done.

Causing others to do some work, which would not have been necessary, is 
not a good thing.  Causing others to re-write usable code, because some 
don't like it, is arrogance carried to the extreme.

-- 
David Froble                       Tel: 724-529-0450
Dave Froble Enterprises, Inc.      E-Mail: davef at tsoft-inc.com
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