[comp.lang.fortran] Fortran 8x Standard, NAMELIST formatting

jlg@a.UUCP (Jim Giles) (03/03/88)

> The criterion for Fortran 8x features (in my opinion) should be to
> certify existing practice or to extend the language in a significant
> way.  I will use this criterion throughout this discussion.

I don't find NAMELIST to a particularly useful feature.  (In fact, I am
currently implementing an I/O library for Fortran support and NAMELIST
is a real pain.)  But it is a widely used feature and has been around
for quite a while.  Therefore Fortran is right in including this feature
in the capacity of certifying existing practice.

Since there are as many (subtly) different implementations of NAMELIST
as there have been implementors.  The proposed standard is not the same
as the versions I've seen on Crays, CDC's, etc., but I doubt if ANY
standardization could do better.  There is only one thing I want to know:
Am I the only one that noticed that the input syntax for logical and
character variables is ambiguous?!?

J. Giles
Los Alamos