(j3.2006) (SC22WG5.3787) N1761, TYPE(*), BIND(C) and arrays

[Bill Long]

N.M. Maclaren wrote:
> This is something that I subconsciously realised when reading N1761,
> but only formulated what it was fairly recently.  Fortran does not have
> the concept of a called procedure knowing anything about the properties
> of its actual arguments (i.e. the objects and expressions in the calling
> procedure).  The SOLE information available to a called procedure about
> its arguments are in its OWN declaration (i.e. the properties of its
> dummy arguments).
>   

That paragraph is so completely wrong that I'm just dumbfounded.   Do 
you mean that if I inquire about the allocation status of a dummy 
variable at the beginning of a subroutine, I get no information about 
the allocation status of the corresponding actual argument?  Or the 
pointer association status of a pointer? Or the extents of an 
assumed-shape array?  None of this information is explicit in the 
declaration of the dummy argument.  Of course, these are exactly the 
cases the TR is intended to address.   No wonder you are finding it so 
hard to understand.

Cheers,
Bill



-- 
Bill Long                                   longb at cray.com
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