guerri@softg.UUCP (Ernesto Guerrieri) (11/16/87)
From the comments that I see circulate, F8X will not be upward compatible. This will cause a great many programs to not work with an F8X compiler. This seems to be counter-productive! If we are designing a new (and unrelated language), let's call it something different than Fortran, because in reality it will not be Fortran (at least in my mind).
buckley@dalcs.UUCP (11/17/87)
In article <757@softg.UUCP> guerri@softg.UUCP (Ernesto Guerrieri) writes: >From the comments that I see circulate, F8X will not be upward >compatible. This will cause a great many programs to not work >with an F8X compiler. This seems to be counter-productive! If >we are designing a new (and unrelated language), let's call it >something different than Fortran, because in reality it will >not be Fortran (at least in my mind). Fortran 8X ** IS ** Fortran. Probably the single mostly closely followed guideline within the X3J3 committee is that Fortran8x must be upwardly compatible with Fortran 77. All Fortran 77 programs will run. .
lamson@sierra.steinmetz (scott h lamson) (11/17/87)
In article <757@softg.UUCP> guerri@softg.UUCP (Ernesto Guerrieri) writes: >From the comments that I see circulate, F8X will not be upward >compatible. From the Draft Proposed Revised American National Standard Programming Language Fortran: This standard specifies the form and establishes the interpretation of programs expressed in the Fortran language. It consists of the specification of the language Fortran. ... The previous standard, commonly known as "FORTRAN 77", is entirely contained in this standard, known as "Fortran 8x". Any standard-conforming FORTRAN 77 program is standard conforming under this standard, with the same interpretation. Scott| ARPA: lamson@ge-crd.arpa Lamson| UUCP: lamson@sierra.steinmetz.ge.com (518)387-5795| GE DECnet: qtmvax::lamson
ags@j.cc.purdue.edu (Dave Seaman) (11/17/87)
In article <757@softg.UUCP> guerri@softg.UUCP (Ernesto Guerrieri) writes: >From the comments that I see circulate, F8X will not be upward >compatible. This will cause a great many programs to not work >with an F8X compiler. I have no idea how you arrived at that conclusion. Fortran 8X is specifically designed to be upward compatible with FORTRAN 77, and I have seen nothing posted in this newsgroup that would imply otherwise. It is true that a great many programs will not work with a Fortran 8X compiler, but these are programs that do not even conform to the existing 77 standard and are likely to break anyway as soon as they are moved to a compiler other than the one that was used for the original program development. There is no guarantee that future versions of Fortran (F9X and beyond) will still be compatible with FORTRAN 77, but at least there is fair warning as to where the differences are likely to be. -- Dave Seaman ags@j.cc.purdue.edu