[G95-develop] Should g77 accept file extensions .f90 and .f95 ?

[Bill Wendling]

Also sprach Andrew Vaught:
} On Sat, 2 Sep 2000, Toon Moene wrote:
} 
} > 
} > So a couple of questions come up:
} > 
} > 1. *Should* g77 support compiling Fortran source code in files with
} >    the extensions .f90 and .f95 (in the end, Fortran 77 is a subset
} >    of Fortran 90/95, so it is not unreasonable to have code that's
} >    compileable by g77 in files that end in .f90 or .f95).
} > 
} > 2. If so, should this code be assumed to be free format (i.e. the
} >    compile time option -ffree-form be passed to the compiler by
} >    default) ?  I've checked that it is possible to override it by
} >    entering -fno-free-form.
} > 
} > 3. Or should g77 refrain from even purporting it has anything to do
} >    with Fortran 90/95 and simply refuse to recognise extensions
} >    .f90 and .f95 given that GNU Fortran 95 is well under way ?
} > 
} > Please share your thoughts on this matter.
} 
}   I think that (3) is the way to go.  Every now and then I hear someone
} talk about g95 "replacing" g77, but I think that g77 and g95 should
} complement one another.  Let's face it-- a lot of people will continue to
} use g77 even after g95 is working fully, for several reasons including
} legacy code, an unwillingness to learn fortran 95, or just the fact that
} fortran 77 works fine for them.
} 
}   In this light, I think that g77 should remain what it has been for the
} last several years-- a rock-solid fortran 77 compiler.  I take the view
} that g95 will be a gentle coersion to upgrade programs to fortran 95.  I
} know that I plan to use it in my own work, but I don't want to force that
} view on others.

Does this mean that g95 is not going to support Fortran 77? (confused).
If so, then yeah, make people use one or the other. If not, then we could
do like gcc did and support everything but have the new compiler be just
one big thingy...

}		   Most scientists are *not* programmers, and just want
} their programs to work.
} 
which tends to cause problems :).

-- 
|| Bill Wendling			wendling@ganymede.isdn.uiuc.edu