Please do not open this stupid discussion again. Fortran has .neme. operators
and no reserved words. This make it all too possible for name.name.name.name
combinations to be ambiguous if . is used as the component selection operator
as well as the operator delimiter.
It is also the case that Fortran has a large number of contexts which contain
comma separated lists. If . were used as the selection operator rather than %
I defy any reasonable individual to visually parse (as distinct from a
machine) a list of mixed comma and point punctuated lists.
% is a good totally unabiguous choice for the component selector. Just
because C and pascal used . is no excuse for introducing ambiguity into
Fortran!!!
Much more of this and I will get angry all over again.
On Tue, 23 Oct 2001 12:33:14 -0400 Bob Cohen <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> It seems to be to be a result of the need for people to be different. I
> find the % to be annoying.
>
> At 05:54 PM 10/23/01 +0200, you wrote:
> > > frank_ouyang wrote:
> > >
> > > By the way, alougth B%a is common in MS PW 4.0,
> > > but 'B.a' is accessible.
> >
> >If you want your programs to be ported on something else than Microsoft
> >products in the future, you'd better use the standard syntax, which is B%a.
> >
> >BTW, a question on this particular point: why the f90 standard decided to
> >use "%" against the more usual "." for object components (already used by
> >C/C++) ?? I though it had to do with the existing Fortran syntax, that the
> >choice of the "." was not possible for a good reason. But in fact it is,
> >since it is accepted (it seems) by MS Powerstation.
> >
> >For, I find B.a much more pleasant to read than B%a
> >
> >Best regards,
> >
> >Pierre
> >
> >
> >
> >--
> >-----------------------------------------------------------------------
> >Pierre Hugonnet R&D Data Processing
> >COMPAGNIE GENERALE DE GEOPHYSIQUE - Paris Processing Centre
> >1, rue Leon Migaux / 91341 MASSY cedex / FRANCE
> >phone:(33) 164 47 45 59 fax:(33) 164 47 32 49
> >email:phugonnet(at)cgg.com (replace (at) by @)
> >-----------------------------------------------------------------------
> >The opinions expressed in this message are not necessarily
> >those of CGG or of Jacques Chirac
> >-----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
> Bob Cohen
> (703) 534-7618
> [log in to unmask]
--
Lawrie Schonfelder
Honorary Senior Fellow, University of Liverpool
Home: 1 Marine Park, West Kirby, Wirral, UK CH48 5HN
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