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15.3.23 AUTOMATIC Statement

g77 doesn't support the AUTOMATIC statement that f2c does.

AUTOMATIC would identify a variable or array as not being SAVE'd, which is normally the default, but which would be especially useful for code that, generally, needed to be compiled with the -fno-automatic option.

AUTOMATIC also would serve as a hint to the compiler that placing the variable or array—even a very large array–on the stack is acceptable.

AUTOMATIC would not, by itself, designate the containing procedure as recursive.

AUTOMATIC should work syntactically like SAVE, in that AUTOMATIC with no variables listed should apply to all pertinent variables and arrays (which would not include common blocks or their members).

Variables and arrays denoted as AUTOMATIC would not be permitted to be initialized via DATA or other specification of any initial values, requiring explicit initialization, such as via assignment statements.

Perhaps UNSAVE and STATIC, as strict semantic opposites to SAVE and AUTOMATIC, should be provided as well.