(j3.2006) Public Comment J32036

[Aleksandar Donev]

Hi,

> Subject: Public Comment J32036
> As for the third of the "advantages" of submodules, nesting
> of scopes to any depth, is something that I believe the
> language shouldn't support.  Once upon a time (in the F8x
> proposal) internal procedures were permitted to nest to any
> depth.  The F90 standard (I believe correctly) disallowed
> that.
Is it technical (implementation) difficulties? As a programmer I have 
certainly found this restriction pesky and cursed who ever put it in the 
standard many a times...

> For both practical reasons, and because I've read
> papers indicating just this point in other languages, I'm
> convinced that nesting of program units is counterproductive.
Maybe if one has the time and will to rewrite the code to restructure 
it. But, often, one writes some routine and later wants to use it in a 
different context without gutting it around. Not being able to CONTAIN 
it inside another scoping unit just because it has a CONTAIN inside 
seems counterproductive to me, unless someone provides a convincing 
argument or citation instead of hand-waving.

Best,
Aleks