I have been watching the recent discussion of problems with modules.
I have prepared a proposal to augment the module facility of Fortran,
along the lines of the Ada / Modula-2 facility to specify "packages"
and "modules." Both languages require to specify an interface, and
separately specify a body.
I propose to _allow_ rather than to _require_ the module interface
and module body to be separated. At present, the proposal specifies
that the interface of a procedure cannot be repeated where its
body appears, in keeping with the general "no duplicate definitions"
rule. If "benign redefinition" becomes acceptable, the proposal
will be modified to _allow_ but not _require_ the interfaces of
separate procedures to be respecified.
I had planned to submit the proposal to ISO/IEC JTC1/SC22/WG5, the
international committee that oversees development of Fortran standards,
as a "Type 2 Technical Report," for consideration during the 14-18
August meeting.
It has become clear that the workload for this year's meeting is
heavy enough already that it would be unwise to add to it, so I shall
postpone submitting the proposal until next year.
I discussed the proposal at the most recent ANSI/NCITS/J3 meeting.
It was received favorably, but with almost unanimous agreement that
it is not appropriate to present it this year.
Meanwhile, I am interested to hear objections to the proposal -- both
on technical and aesthetic grounds.
Technical objections should take the form of "The proposal doesn't solve
this really important problem that I and/or my organization have," or
"Here's a simpler way to solve problem P."
Aesthetic objections of the form "I'm not interested in solving your
really important problem, so the proposal should be simplified so as
not to address it" will be ignored.
The proposal was prepared in the format of an ISO Type 2 Technical Report,
but has been published as J3 working document 00-197. It is available
from ftp://math.jpl.nasa.gov/doc/year/00/00-197.ps.gz
or ftp://math.jpl.nasa.gov/doc/year/00/00-197.pdf.gz.
I believe the proposal addresses the recently discussed problems. I
am especially interested to know any reasons that it does not.
--
What fraction of Americans believe | Van Snyder
Wrestling is real and NASA is fake? | [log in to unmask]
Any alleged opinions are my own and have not been approved or disapproved
by JPL, CalTech, NASA, Dan Goldin, Bill Clinton, the Pope, or anybody else.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
|