(j3.2006) (SC22WG5.4549) Comments on the technical content of the coarray TS

[Tobias Burnus]

On 09/30/2011 02:51 PM, Bill Long wrote:
> I think an important question that needs to be decided is whether the 
> goal of the TS is to include only those features that are already in 
> demand (from users)  or that users through (having failed to carefully 
> read f2008) were already standardized, leaving more general expansion 
> to the next revision, or whether the TS should be a comprehensive 
> extension of coarrays that would unlikely be modified in the next 
> standard.   I would argue that the current TS draft is somewhere 
> between these tow options.   Going with the minimal TS would allow for 
> quicker completion and sooner start on f201x.  The larger version 
> would possibly result in better long-term integration of the feature.  
> At this point, my personal preference is for the minimal approach.

I cannot say anything about the meeting agreements, but as a Fortran 
user and Fortran-compiler developer, I am also in favour for a smaller 
TS. Given that the number of compilers well supporting coarrays (as 
defined in Fortran 2008) is very low, the practical experience with the 
newer features is still rather low. Thus, adding the most important 
missing features as TS allows to draw on user experience for additional 
features during the F201{3,8} development.

For me, the collective/broadcast feature is the most important omission; 
having some subdivision (teams) or collective I/O seems to be of lesser 
importance (for my projects at least).

Tobias