(j3.2006) Public Comment J32032

[Michael Ingrassia]

                                                            08-246
To: J3
From: Michael Ingrassia
Subject: Public Comment J32032
Date: 2008 July 08
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Commenter's Subject was "New intrinsic procedures"

There are a large number of new intrinsic functions in the
proposed new standard.  In the last few standards there have
been a few as well.  But in the past many of the new names
were long and unlikely to cause legacy codes any naming
conflicts.  Sure, some (like NEW_LINE) were problematical,
but most were not.  That is not the case in this revision.

I think most of the new intrinsic functions should be placed
in one or more intrinsic modules rather than joining the
"pervasive" category of names (those that are visible every-
where unless explicitly hidden by an explicit declaration).
Sure, the author of that old legacy code should have used
an EXTERNAL declaration for all his functions.  But how many
actually have?

In fact, I think the committee should set a policy that no
new intrinsics will be added to the pervasive namespace in
the future.  All new intrinsics should be in intrinsic
modules - starting with f2008.

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