HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: fairfield@slacvx.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: Re: SUMMARY: CHARACTER FUNCTION as dummy argument
Organization: Stanford Linear Accelerator Center
Date: Tue, 15 Dec 1992 19:17:17 GMT

    A few comments on Craig Burley's summary:

In article <BURLEY.92Dec15044825@apple-gunkies.gnu.ai.mit.edu>, burley@apple-gunkies.gnu.ai.mit.edu (Craig Burley) writes:

First:
[...]
> If anyone has a system that supports the code in Sample 1 (like VAX/VMS
> FORTRAN), it'd be interesting to see how well it handled the following:
> 
> C Sample 6
> 	CHARACTER*(*) CFUNC
> 	EXTERNAL CFUNC
> 	CALL X (CFUNC)
> 	PRINT *, 'Done!'
> 	END

VAX Fortran rejects this at compile time, to wit (I called the source file
BURLEY.FOR, thus BURLEY$MAIN):

00001   	CHARACTER*(*) CFUNC
00002   	EXTERNAL CFUNC
00003   	CALL X (CFUNC)
00004   	PRINT *, 'Done!'
00005   	END
%FORT-F-ADJLENUSE, Passed length character name used in invalid context 
 	[CFUNC] in module BURLEY$MAIN 

The rest of Sample 6 compiled fine...

    I won't comment on whether or not the VAX way of passing character
arguments (functions and/or variables) is efficient or not since someone
like Steve Lionel is in a _much_ better position to answer (although I
do suspect there's no performance hit on VMS because ALL character
entities are passed by [the address of a] descriptor).  However, while I do
appreciate issues of efficiency in Fortran code, CHARACTER manipulations
are one place I think we should "look the other way", so to speak.  These
manipulation most often occur in the user interface, and users are SLOW
DEVICES ;-)  Furthermore, if you DO need efficient character manipulation,
try recoding using the equivalent of Hollerith data: it's MUCH faster to
compare INTEGER variables, even in a loop, than to compare CHARACTER
variables.  (Well, I admit there is likely hardware dependency in this...).

	Cheers, Ken
--
 Dr. Kenneth H. Fairfield    |  Internet: Fairfield@Slac.Stanford.Edu
 SLAC, P.O.Box 4349, MS 98   |  DECnet:   45537::FAIRFIELD (45537=SLACVX)
 Stanford, CA   94309        |  BITNET    Fairfield@Slacvx
 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 These opinions are mine, not SLAC's, Stanford's, nor the DOE's...
From: ig25@fg70.rz.uni-karlsruhe.de (Thomas Koenig)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.fortran
Subject: Re: Real Programmers
Date: 16 Dec 1992 15:02:18 GMT
Organization: University of Karlsruhe, Germany
Reply-To: ig25@rz.uni-karlsruhe.de
NNTP-Posting-Host: fg70.rz.uni-karlsruhe.de

In article <DODD.92Dec16060307@mycenae.cchem.berkeley.edu> dodd@mycenae.cchem.berkeley.edu (Lawrence R. Dodd) writes:

>so are we agreed that the final version would be the following?
>
>85367 FORMAT(100(3H:-))/22HFOR THE HUMOR-IMPARED.)
>      WRITE(6,85367)

Oh my god...  where's the leading space?  What sort of carriage control
do you use?

Apart from that, I'd find

      WRITE(6,43H(1H 100(3H:-))/1X22HFOR THE HUMOR-IMPARED.))

a much more gratifying style...
-- 
Thomas Koenig, ig25@rz.uni-karlsruhe.de, ig25@dkauni2.bitnet
The joy of engineering is to find a straight line on a double logarithmic
diagram.
From: dodd@mycenae.cchem.berkeley.edu (Lawrence R. Dodd)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.fortran
Subject: Re: Real Programmers
Date: 15 Dec 92 05:37:19
Organization: Dept of Chemical Engineering, Polytechnic Univ, NY, USA
	<DODD.92Dec12062844@mycenae.cchem.berkeley.edu>
	<1992Dec14.235245.2307@ultb.isc.rit.edu>
Reply-To: dodd@roebling.poly.edu
NNTP-Posting-Host: mycenae.cchem.berkeley.edu
In-reply-to: jsvrc@rc.rit.edu's message of 14 Dec 92 23:52:45 GMT


>>>>> "Doctor" == Doctor FORTRAN <jsvrc@rc.rit.edu> writes:

  Doctor> And (drumroll, please, Paul), the Number One newly discovered virtue of
  Doctor> FORTRAN, from the home office in Scottsdale, Arizona,

  Doctor>  1. You can argue over whether it's really "FORTRAN" or "Fortran".

Yes! I live for that type of anal-retentiveness! yes!

  Doctor>   101 Format (100 (' :-)'), /, ' For the Humor-impared.')
  Doctor>       Write (Kout, 101)

 line 2: Error: attempt to use undefined variable "kout"
 line 2: Error: bad unit specifier type in write statement
 Compilation failed
From: acscmaw@ubvmsb.cc.buffalo.edu (MARK WIECZOREK)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.fortran
Subject: swapping bytes on a two byte integer
Date: 15 Dec 92 16:21:00 GMT
Organization: University at Buffalo
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41


I have a very simple problem. I have a binary data file composed of two byte
integers. After reading the data I would like to change the order of the 
bytes and write the result to a file. I've looked through the vax fortran
manuals and couldn't find a way to do this. Any help would be greatly
appreciated. 

Mark Wieczorek
From: adk@sun13.SCRI.FSU.EDU (Tony Kennedy)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.fortran
Subject: Re: function name as an argument
Date: 12 Dec 92 16:44:49 GMT
	<1992Dec8.140008.20523@e2big.mko.dec.com>
	<BURLEY.92Dec8185030@apple-gunkies.gnu.ai.mit.edu>
	<1992Dec10.012254.3535@alchemy.chem.utoronto.ca>
	<1992Dec10.155427.2271@e2big.mko.dec.com>
	<1992Dec11.204152.28787@new
Organization: SCRI, Florida State University
In-reply-to: jlg@cochiti.lanl.gov's message of 11 Dec 92 20:41:52 GMT

>> J. Giles <jlg@cochiti.lanl.gov> and
>> Steve Lionel <lionel@quark.enet.dec.com> write:

   lionel> PROGRAM DUMB
   lionel> character*10 func,arg
   lionel> external func
   lionel> call sub(func,arg)
   lionel> end

   lionel> SUBROUTINE SUB (func,arg)
   lionel> character*(*) func,arg       
   lionel> arg = func()
   lionel> write(*,*)arg
   lionel> END

   lionel> FUNCTION FUNC()
   lionel> character*(*) func
   lionel> func = 'abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz'
   lionel> END

   lionel> How does SUB know how much to allocate for the function result
   lionel> of SUB?  This isn't known at compile time, so the length has to
   lionel> be passed in to SUB somehow so that SUB can allocate the space
   lionel> at run-time.

   jlg> Nope, the space can be allocated statically when PROGRAM DUMB
   jlg> is compiled! The descriptor passed to SUB can contain the
   jlg> length of the space which has been allocated and a reference
   jlg> to that memory.  This is the same information that needs to
   jlg> be passed if FUNC were called *directly* by the main program.

This is not possible because the three routines can be compiled separately.
Organization: Stanford Linear Accelerator Center
Date: Wednesday, 16 Dec 1992 16:27:48 PST
From: <AMB@SLACVM.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU>
Newsgroups: comp.lang.fortran
Subject: Re: Real Programmers
Distribution: world
 <1992Dec14.235245.2307@ultb.isc.rit.edu> <15DEC199219360045@utarlg.uta.edu>
 <1gmd4fINNkua@agate.berkeley.edu>

In article <1gmd4fINNkua@agate.berkeley.edu>, forags@smokey (Al Stangenberger)
says:
>
>>> 4. Rigid field format goes hand-in-hand with model 29 keypunch program
>drum.
>>>
>>REAL Real Programmers only use 026s. Those are the keypunches without the
>>equals signs ( and a few other "useful" keys).
>
>I think real genuine programmers would not stoop to using even an 026.
>Better to use an IBM 01 (they're hand-driven, and you have to know all the
>multi-punch codes to punch ... )
>
...But real programmers punch code on paper tape on a Flexowriter, and fix
a bad punch by re-punching a whole new tape, error free, in only 3 hours.

Fixing a bad punch, by locating its binary code on the tape,
covering it with scotch tape and over-punching it
correctly, is not up to aesthetical standards, and is
never done by REAL programmers.

Adam Boyarski, SLAC, Stanford University.
Newsgroups: comp.lang.fortran
From: weiping@eng2.eng.monash.edu.au (Weiping Hu Materials)
Subject: Re: Help needed in using fortran
Organization: Faculty of Engineering, Monash University 
Date: Thu, 17 Dec 1992 03:23:06 GMT

In article <1992Dec16.231206.28351@mariner.amc.edu.au> lwang@mariner.amc.edu.au (Luo Wang) writes:
>From: lwang@mariner.amc.edu.au (Luo Wang)
>Subject: Help needed in using fortran
>Date: Wed, 16 Dec 92 23:12:06 GMT
>Hi, 
>
>I have a package programmed with Fortran 77. It was programmed by one of our
>teammate in the same research team. But, he left last month. I havn't learned 
>any Fortran before.
>
>Before he left, the teammate showed me the procedure to compile the program.
>I could run the program just like using an application software such as word
>procesor. I mean what I know is just how to use it.
>
>Then the program was running allright. But recently I have some difficulties
>in running and compiling the program.
>
>In running:
>
>run-time error R6002
>- floating point not loaded
>
>In compiling:( FORTRAN optimizing compiler version 5.00)
>
>Command line warning D4005: could not execute ' link.exe';
>
>Can anyone there tell me what the problem is?
>
>Thank you very much.
>
>Luo Wang
>
>
You should have specified  what compiler  you are using.  It seems to me you 
are using the MS Fortran 5.0.  In that case, the  compiler shouldn't 
call 'link.exe'.  Or you maybe running  a batch file.   In any case,  check 
that your link.exe  is not infected  with virus.  If it has  been, then you 
need to check/clean the whole system and re-install link.exe.

Another possibility is that you are using  different  data files, and one or 
some of the data are illegal to the program.  Try to use  the original data 
file  your collegue has used and see what happens.   

The error  number is dependant on the compiler you are using and you may 
check the  manual which  came with the compiler to find out the meaning.

Hope this helps.

W. Hu
Newsgroups: comp.lang.fortran
From: shenkin@still3.chem.columbia.edu (Peter Shenkin)
Subject: CHARACTER IO question
Originator: shenkin@still3.chem.columbia.edu
Organization: Columbia U. Chemistry
Date: Fri, 18 Dec 1992 22:24:40 GMT
X-Posted-From: still3.chem.columbia.edu
NNTP-Posting-Host: sol.ctr.columbia.edu

Suppose I have the following declaration:

      CHARACTER *100 fname

Then, later, the following READ:

      READ( 5, '(A)' ) fname

And suppose the next input record reads as follows, where the 'e' in "file"
is the last character in the record:

/my/file
       
The question is:  does the FORTRAN-77 standard specify what the last 92
characters in "fname" should contain, after the READ is done?  From 
section 13.5.11 of the standard: 

	...if the field width... is not specified with the A edit 
	descriptor, the number of characters in the field is the length 
	of the character input/output list item.

Thus the '(A)' format acts just like '(A100)' in my example.  Reading on:

	Let LEN be the length of the input/output list item.  If the 
	specified field width W for A input is greater than or equal 
	to LEN, the rightmost LEN characters will be taken from the input
	field.

Here, LEN stands for the value 100 in the declaration of "fname", and
W is the value of 100 inferred from the naked "A" format specification;
thus LEN is equal to W;  so "fname" will get the rightmost 100 characters
from the input field.  But there are only 8 characters  in the input
field, so this portion of the standard seems to be silent on what
"fname" will contain after the READ is done.

On most UNIX machines, the last 92 characters of "fname" get filled with
blanks, but I have found that on the Sparc front-end to the CM-5,
CMFortran puts a few blanks in, followed by a bunch of ASCII nulls.  Is
there another part of the standard that addresses this?  If not, is there
any standard way to ensure the blank padding?  If not, is there any standard
way to figure out how wide your input field really was?

	-P.
-- 
************************f*u*cn*rd*ths*u*cn*gt*a*gd*jb************************
Peter S. Shenkin, Box 768 Havemeyer Hall, Dept. of Chemistry, Columbia Univ.,
New York, NY  10027;  shenkin@still3.chem.columbia.edu;  (212) 854-5143
******* ...ghostlier demarcations, keener sounds.  (Wallace Stevens) ********
From: miller@hmsp04.wg3.waii.com (Griff Miller X7114)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.fortran
Subject: Re: swapping bytes on a two byte integer
Date: 16 Dec 92 21:38:31 GMT
Organization: Western Geo. - Div of Western Atlas Intn'l Inc., Houston, TX

In article <BzB6rI.LI7@acsu.buffalo.edu> acscmaw@ubvmsb.cc.buffalo.edu (MARK WIECZOREK) writes:
>
>I have a very simple problem. I have a binary data file composed of two byte
>integers. After reading the data I would like to change the order of the 
>bytes and write the result to a file. I've looked through the vax fortran
>manuals and couldn't find a way to do this. Any help would be greatly
>appreciated. 
>
>Mark Wieczorek

How about: 

      CHARACTER*1 CWORK
      CHARACTER*2 C2BYT
      INTEGER IUNIT,OUNIT

      IUNIT=1
      OUNIT=2
C (OR WHATEVER)

      READ (IUNIT) C2BYT
      CWORK=C2BYT(1:1)
      C2BYT(1:1)=C2BYT(2:2)
      C2BYT(2:2)=CWORK
      WRITE (OUNIT) C2BYT 

      END

IUNIT and OUNIT should be opened for unformatted I/O .  If, for some
reason, that's not possible or feasible then try:

      CHARACTER*1 CWORK
      CHARACTER*2 C2BYT

      INTEGER IUNIT,OUNIT
      IUNIT=1
      OUNIT=2
C (OR WHATEVER)

      READ (IUNIT,10) C2BYT
   10 FORMAT (A2)
      CWORK=C2BYT(1:1)
      C2BYT(1:1)=C2BYT(2:2)
      C2BYT(2:2)=CWORK
      WRITE (OUNIT,10) C2BYT

      END

Note: Even though I used all caps, I do not presume to be a 
Real Programmer.  :-)
--
Griff Miller > miller@monarch.wg3.waii.com < use this for email.

          *** My opinions are mine, not Western's. ***

   "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but 
    fools despise wisdom and discipline."   - Proverbs 1:7 
Newsgroups: comp.lang.fortran
From: rolfe@dsuvax.dsu.edu (Tim Rolfe)
Subject: Re: Real Programmers
Organization: Dakota State University
Date: Sat, 12 Dec 1992 06:08:03 GMT

With all due respect, look at the DATE of the piece -- 1982.  I'd be
GREATLY surprised if the targetting of Galileo hadn't changed in 10
years!  I do grant, of course, that some might read the item without
care, and it is THOSE readers that you wish to inform.

This item has been in the computing culture now for 10 years.  It's not
surprising that it isn't the most up-to-date treatment of issues.
-- 
                                              --- Tim Rolfe
                                           rolfe@dsuvax.dsu.edu
                                            ROLFE@SDNET.BITNET
From: ig25@fg70.rz.uni-karlsruhe.de (Thomas Koenig)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.fortran
Subject: Re: Uglifier (was Re: Real Programmers)
Date: 16 Dec 1992 14:19:25 GMT
Organization: University of Karlsruhe, Germany
Reply-To: ig25@rz.uni-karlsruhe.de
NNTP-Posting-Host: fg70.rz.uni-karlsruhe.de
Keywords: n

In article <BzC6n8.J2G@news.cso.uiuc.edu> ercolessi@uimrl3.mrl.uiuc.edu (furio ercolessi) writes:

>Hmmm ...
>did any one ever made a source code uglifier, a filter removing
>all comments, renaming all variables as A1,A2,... (*),  removing all
>extra spaces, replacing character constants with Holleriths, etc?
>It could be a useful tool after all!  Sometimes you do not want to
>give away your sources, you would like to give only the binaries
>but that's impractical ... this would be a brilliant intermediate 
>solution, give uglified code!  :-)
>
>Also, sounds like a good exercise for some CS course.

There is an uglifyer for C code; I believe it was posted to one of the
comp.sources.* - groups some time ago. So, run your f77 program through
f2c, then through this program. As far as I remember, it not only
called the variables a1, a2, but some random combination of xyyxyx...

For a FORTRAN - specific uglifier, I'd suggest such a scheme (especially
for COMMON blocks, things could get really interesting).  Also, replace all
IF THEN - constructs by computed GOTO's, throw out all declarations by
relying on implicit typing alone, build in a few traps for the unwary
(DO 10 I=1.3 comes to mind, as does IF (A.GT.0.) THEN A = 0.), add a few
random characters after column 72 which would still make sense, replace
all PARAMETER statements by their values... 

The possiblities are almost boundless.
-- 
Thomas Koenig, ig25@rz.uni-karlsruhe.de, ig25@dkauni2.bitnet
The joy of engineering is to find a straight line on a double logarithmic
diagram.
Newsgroups: comp.lang.fortran
From: chew@accel.aa.washington.edu (Gilbert Chew)
Subject: FORTRAN for 386's
Reply-To: chew@accel.aa.washington.edu (Gilbert Chew)
Organization: U of Wash Dept of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Date: Fri, 18 Dec 1992 22:18:17 GMT

I would like to buy a 386 FORTRAN compiler.  I would prefer one
with a decent DOS-extender, and inexpensive, to boot!

I am trying to write programs in FORTRAN, and it would be nice
to be able to test and debug them at home.  Eventually, they
would be ported to a workstation or a Cray, but for now they
need to be able to run on a pc.  I'm using fairly large arrays,
and they don't seem to fit in MS-FORTRAN 4.x.  So, I'm thinking
of moving up to a more manly compiler.

So far, the F77/386 compiler from Silicon Valley Software
seems to be the best buy.  Any comments or suggestions?

Please reply via e-mail, as I don't get to read this newsgroup
very often.

Gilbert Chew
chew@accel.aa.washington.edu
Newsgroups: comp.lang.fortran
From: tholen@galileo.ifa.hawaii.edu (Dave Tholen)
Subject: Re: elapsed time
Organization: University of Hawaii
Distribution: usa
Date: Wed, 16 Dec 1992 00:17:33 GMT

Mike Bandy writes:

>> hi.
>> Does anyone know what the time functions are in fortran?
>> I want to know the elasped time when I run the program.
>> Thanks in advance.

> You'll have to look at the system services offered by the operating
> system under which your program runs.  Fortran, unlike C, does
> not a standard portfolio of common system services.

Which is one reason why I like OS/2.  The API offers a standard
portfolio of common system services.  All the compiler has to do
is provide hooks into the API.  And in those cases where the 
library provides a routine that duplicates one in the API, I
have found the API version to be much faster (like getting the
date and time).
Newsgroups: comp.lang.fortran
From: dnl@convex.is.macsch.com (David Lombard)
Subject: Re: Need help with named common blocks
Organization: MacNeal-Schwendler Corp.
Distribution: comp
Date: Tue, 15 Dec 92 01:11:50 GMT

In article <1992Dec14.145241.16794@e2big.mko.dec.com> lionel@quark.enet.dec.com (Steve Lionel) writes:
>
>In article <jumper.724304615@fritz.catt.ncsu.edu>, 
>jumper@fritz.catt.ncsu.edu (Michael Lanham) writes:
>|>
>|>I have several program src files.  In the file with the BLOCK DATA segment,
>|>the COMMON block is named and shaped as follows:
>|>
>|>      IMPLICIT INTEGER (A-Z)
>|>      COMMON/SHARE1/TABLE(1770),NOPU(54),FLHS(54),UNUSE0(122),
>|>     -           XLATE(127),KWT1(50),KWT2(50),STACK1(50),STACK2(50),
>|>     -           SYMBOL(8),VALUE(8),UNUSE5(16),CHAR(80),VALUXY(12),
>|>     -           LISTX(61),INTERX(70),SYNTAB(2,26),CHARX(26),TAG(50),
>|>     -           (50)
>|>
>|>
>|>
>|>In most of the other modules the common block share1 is entered the same way.
>|>Now I found an additional SHARE1 that is different.
>|>
>|>      COMMON/SHARE1/NSVT(1000),OSVT(1000),
>|>     -             OPND(3),LINE(133),UNUSE3(574),
>|>     -             OUTTAB(50,4),SUPP(100,2),SYMBL(2),UNUSE2(18)
>|>
>|>Is an accurate way of thinking of SHARE1 is the first declaration plus the
>|>second concatenated to the end of the second?  I need to know this so I can
>|>correctly build my union in C to accurately reflect the SHARE1 structure.
>|>
>
>Yep.
>
>	Any common block name _cb_ or an omitted _cb_ for blank common
>	may occur more than once in one or more COMMON statements in
>	a program unit.  The list _nlist_ following each successive
>	appearance of the same common block name is treated as a 
>	continuation of the list for that common block name.
>
>		ANSI X3.9-1978, s8.3.1, p8-4, lines 1-5
>

I think he meant that the two commons are in two different modules, in which
case your explanation is in error.

Regards,
DNL

                 MY_COMMENTS = MY_OPINIONS = NOBODY_ELSES;

David N. Lombard    The first thing we do,         The MacNeal-Schwendler Corp
dnl@macsch.com      Let's kill all the lawyers.    815 Colorado Blvd
(213) 259-4911      II Henry VI, IV.ii             Los Angeles, CA  90041
Newsgroups: comp.lang.fortran
From: michael@chpc.utexas.edu (Michael Lemke)
Subject: Re: CHARACTER IO question
Organization: The University of Texas System - CHPC
Date: Fri, 18 Dec 92 22:55:23 GMT

In article <1992Dec18.222440.19389@sol.ctr.columbia.edu> shenkin@still3.chem.columbia.edu (Peter Shenkin) writes:
>Suppose I have the following declaration:
>
>      CHARACTER *100 fname
>
>Then, later, the following READ:
>
>      READ( 5, '(A)' ) fname
>
>And suppose the next input record reads as follows, where the 'e' in "file"
>is the last character in the record:
>
>/my/file
>       
>The question is:  does the FORTRAN-77 standard specify what the last 92
>characters in "fname" should contain, after the READ is done?  From 
>section 13.5.11 of the standard: 
>
[quote of standard deleted]

>On most UNIX machines, the last 92 characters of "fname" get filled with
>blanks, but I have found that on the Sparc front-end to the CM-5,
>CMFortran puts a few blanks in, followed by a bunch of ASCII nulls.  Is
>there another part of the standard that addresses this?  

I don't know; I leave this to other posters.

>If not, is there
>any standard way to ensure the blank padding?  

I think this will do:

	fname = ' '
	read( 5, '(a)' ) fname

>If not, is there any standard
>way to figure out how wide your input field really was?

I don't think there is a standard way to get at this number but there 
is a very handy VMS extension which also works on Suns:

	read( 5, '(q,a)' ) len, fname

len will have the number of characters read into fname.  Too bad it 
isn't standard FORTRAN.

Michael
-- 
Michael Lemke
Astronomy, UT Austin, Texas
(michael@io.as.utexas.edu or UTSPAN::UTADNX::IO::MICHAEL [SPAN])
Newsgroups: comp.lang.fortran
From: hayim@locus.com (Hayim Hendeles)
Subject: Performance of different compilers
Organization: Locus Computing Corporation, Los Angeles, California
Distribution: na
Date: Fri, 11 Dec 1992 18:38:35 GMT

Does anyone have any experience with the performance differences
between different Fortran compilers on a PC/386 or 486 machine?

I have a huge application that I would like to run, and to squeeze
every ounce of performance out of it as possible. Currently,
it is running under Microsoft Fortran 4.0, and is *extremely*
slow, and I am hoping that by switching to a better optimizing
compiler (if there is one), I might gain some performance.

I would appreciate it, if you would please respond to me by
E-mail, as I don't normally read this newsgroup. IF there is
interest, I will summarize the responses and post them.

Any help you can give, will be greatly appreciated. 


Thank you very much,
Hayim Hendeles

E-mail: hayim@locus.com
From: D.Love@daresbury.ac.uk (Dave Love)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.fortran
Subject: Re: Uglifier (was Re: Real Programmers)
Date: 18 Dec 92 11:58:39 GMT
	<DODD.92Dec16060859@mycenae.cchem.berkeley.edu>
	<1992Dec18.011815.26102@alchemy.chem.utoronto.ca>
Organization: SERC Daresbury Laboratory, Warrington, UK

>>>>> On Fri, 18 Dec 1992 01:18:15 GMT, mroussel@alchemy.chem.utoronto.ca (Marc Roussel) said:

 >  You see, you can use any non-numerical character to introduce a
 > comment

Not according to the FORTRAN 77 standard, section 3.2.1, you can't --
comment lines are introduced by a C or asterisk in column 1 or have
blanks in columns 1-72.
Newsgroups: comp.lang.fortran