brainerd@unmvax.unm.edu (Walt Brainerd) (10/18/88)
Two points have been overlooked in the recent discussion of the happenings
in the wonderful world of Fortran standards:
1. X3J3 is "tasked" by WG5 of ISO to create the ISO standard.
2. There is only one document that is close enough to be a standard
in the next five years; it is the one favored by ISO/WG5. So the choices
are: a) the same ISO and ANSI standard or
b) an ISO standard and _no_ ANSI standard (at least not for several years).
Also, from what I have heard, it is quite likely that any ISO standard
would become a U. S. Federal (FIP) standard whether it is an American
national standard or not, so vendors wanting to sell to Uncle Sam would
have to implement it.