Re: [wwwdata] Update Fortran section of gcc-4.6/changes.html

[Steve Kargl <sgk at troutmask dot apl dot washington dot edu>]

On Thu, Dec 16, 2010 at 06:26:31AM +0800, Gerald Pfeifer wrote:
> On Thu, 19 Aug 2010, Tobias Burnus wrote:
> > I have already committed the attached patch, but don't hesitate to suggest
> > changes or other improvements.
> > 
> > Cf. http://gcc.gnu.org/gcc-4.6/changes.html#Fortran
> 
> The following snippet sounds a bit confusing to me, though admittedly
> I am not a Fortran hacker:
> 
> +       <li>Null pointers (including <code>NULL()</code>) and not
> +       allocated variables can be used as actual argument to optional
> +       non-pointer, non-allocatable dummy arguments, denoting an absent
> +       argument.</li>
> 
> Is "actual argument" a standard term?  "as actual argument to ...
> arguments, denoting an absent argument" sounds a bit tricky.

Yes, "actual argument" is a standard term. 

program test
   integer i
   call foo(i)    ! i is the actual argument.
end program test
subroutine foo(j) ! j is the dummy argument.
   integer j
   print *, j
end subroutine foo

In the standard, one finds passages of like "'i' is the
actual argument associated with the dummy argument 'j'".

I'll suggest a rewording of the form

    <li>Null pointers and unallocated allocatable variables can be used
        as actual arguments to optional non-pointer, non-allocatable
        dummy arguments to denote an absent argument.</li>

-- 
Steve