Re: DEC Extension Support for gcc-4.8.3

[Jim Secan <james.secan@gmail.com>]

As an “end user” of this compiler and a five-decades Fortran coder I am happy to see the DEC extensions added to gfortran, particularly the structures framework.  I am, as others suggest, slowly converting old code over to use derived types, but I’d prefer to be spending my time on my day job rather than reinventing wheels.  Some things, like the $ inclusion in variable names and other musty old stuff, are definitely in the “clean it up” hopper.  Others, structures being the main one, also raise old memories (and not fond ones) of the Fortran committee rejecting this de-facto standard in the first place.

Anyway, I welcome the addition of the structures formalism to gfortran.  I don’t see it as a compiler hack as much as helpful extension.

Jim
3222 NE 89th St
Seattle, WA 98115
(206) 430-0109

On Mar 8, 2016, at 9:45 AM, Jerry DeLisle <jvdelisle@charter.net> wrote:

> On 03/07/2016 04:10 PM, W Spector wrote:
>> Tim Prince <n8tm at aol dot com> wrote:
>>> ... I thought the purpose of permitting '$' was to support VMS system function
>>> calls, so implicit integer may make sense. Such programs evidently won't be
>>> portable even if you reconcile this bit.
>> 
>> Allowing $ in variable names was an old, old, ('60s/'70s) IBM mainframe
>> extension, and maybe others of the era too.  I first encountered it in 1978 or
>> so. So definitely pre-VAX.
>> 
>> Some dusty brain cells are thinking it may have been also used by some compilers
>> (or pre-processors) to separate statements on a single line. Which of course is
>> now done with semi-colons.
>> 
>> Walter
>> 
> 
> IMHO for some of these things on legacy code, judicious use of editors like sed
> should be used on the source codes and just bring them out of the dark ages.  It
> really is not that hard.  If the code is that important then just do it.
> Hacking compilers out of laziness just does not seem right.
> 
> I am not saying anyone is lazy and do not intend to offend, I fully understand
> what it is like to have over bearing workloads, but we should at least do a
> reality check.
> 
> Regards,
> 
> Jerry