(j3.2006) BEQ, BNE?

[Malcolm Cohen]

>I assume this is a theoretical question

Sorry, but I am with Van here.

It is so far from inconceivable that machines will have this kind of arithmetic 
that there are machines currently being produced with this kind of arithmetic.

We have gone to great lengths in the real, integer, and bit models in clause 13 
to avoid gratuitous machine dependencies, even to the extent of handling radices 
other than 2.

The assertion that Fortran should ignore everything other than twos complement 
integer arithmetic goes directly against our prime directive: "to promote 
portability ... on a variety of computing systems".

Unless there is a good technical reason why a machine with arithmetic that is 
not twos complement should be considered unsuitable for Fortran, and I hear no 
such reason, excluding it could also fall foul of other guidelines J3 is 
reminded every meeting of its duty to adhere to...

On the technical merits, it might be argued that the relational operation of 
bitwise equality would be so infrequently used that it is not justfied to 
include BEQ/BNE, but I am not hearing that argument either...

Cheers,
-- 
................................Malcolm Cohen, Nihon NAG, Tokyo.