I am generally a fan of Fortran symbols.
! Exclamation mark...exclamation...ah! Comment.
=> Pointy thing...pointy...Pointer assignment.
I even like the double colons distinguishing type attributes from
variables of that type, although I am not really sure why a single
colon wouldn't suffice.
But what I absolutely deplore is the % symbol used to distinguish
components of a user defined type. It too has some logic:
%...portion...part...part of something bigger...part of user defined
type. However, in practice the thing doesn't work. Why? Because it is
too dense. It makes code virtually unreadable.
Take this from something I am writing.
ww = gridDims%dimensions(WDIMENSION)%weightedPoint%weight
I find this hard to read, and I am sure an expert in the textual arts
would confirm for me that this results from the separation symbols (ie
%) not adequately separating. In just about every other language we
would have
ww = gridDims.dimensions(WDIMENSION).weightedPoint.weight
I think it is much easier in this case to distinguish the parts in the
'path', because a point is so lightweight, almost a space.
I can't help but think the % symbol was used in Fortran just to be
different to C. I sure hope there was a better reason than that,
because now we all have to live with it.
Anyway, enough whining for today... it can't change anything anyway.
Drew McCormack
========================================
Dr. Drew McCormack (Kmr. R153)
Afd. Theoretische Chemie
Faculteit Exacte Wetenschappen
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
De Boelelaan 1083
1081 HV Amsterdam
The Netherlands
Email [log in to unmask]
Telephone +31 20 44 47623
Mobile +31 6 483 21307
Fax +31 20 44 47629
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