On Sat, 6 Mar 1999, Richard Maine wrote:
> The compiler is allowed a lot of freedom in line splitting
> with list-directed output. Some compilers might write it all on one
> line, but this certainly isn't required.
Right. But personally I find it a very bad thing. Portability in
my opinion means also that you should get the same results on
any platform. I had to struggle with a number of programs
I had to port from VAX to UNIX, and where all output, originally
nice and friendly, had become an unreadable mess. It took me a lot of time
to convert hundreds of list-directed WRITE statements to formatted.
By the way, would it be possible to dream of a world where every
compiler writes 0.12345 and not .12345? (or viceversa, the important
thing is to have THE SAME behavior for all).
I would like to stress that often one writes programs (or scripts)
which have as input the output of other programs: but this is very
difficult when output changes from platform to platform.
Alberto Fasso'
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Alberto Fasso'
Stanford Linear Accelerator Center
Radiation Physics Dept. ms 48, P.O. Box 4349
Stanford CA 94309 (USA)
Tel. (1 650) 926 4062 Fax: (1 650) 926 3569
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