corbett@beatnix.UUCP (Bob Corbett) (06/27/89)
When Fortran programmers are shown examples of Fortran 8x code, their
typical reaction is exclaim "that isn't Fortran" quickly followed by
"that's really ugly." It seems X3J3 is determined to produce a language
where programs will not have to look anything like Fortran programs, so I
no longer argue the point (though I shall bring it up in the public
review). However, I have a slim hope they are not determined to produce an
ugly language. There are those who have said they think that X3J3 is
trying to produce a language so ugly that everyone will convert from Fortan
to C. I believe X3J3 is trying to produce the best language it can, even
though the effect seems to favor the other point of view.
Consider the declaration
TYPE(REC), POINTER :: REC_PTR
How did X3J3 reach a state where such a simple declaration has come to look
so ugly? In part, the reason is that the standard supports two source forms:
one in which blanks are significant, and one in which they are insignificant.
In part, the reason is that features were added without regard to conflicts
with the syntax of other features. The syntax then had to be patched to
eliminate the conflicts.
If X3J3 believes the free source form is the language of the future, it
should have designed the language in that form and then worked out a plan to
allow users to convert from the old form to the new. As it is, they have
created a monstrosity that moves the language in the direction they think
they want it to go, but that saddles users with ugly syntax for now.
Since they have not set out their ultimate goal, there is a good chance
future standards efforts will never get there, leaving us stuck with something
like the current mess.
Yours very truly,
Bob Corbett
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