[J3] sequence type equality

[Bill Long]

BIND(C) types solve the problem of interacting with C.   Modules solve he problem of “same type as”.  COMMON is obsolescent and better replaced by modules.   I don’t see any ue for SEQEUNCE types any more, except that really old codes might have them (as well as arithmetic IF and a lot of other ancient junk).   Is there any use for SEQUENCE that does not already have a batter alternative?


> On Oct 15, 2020, at 1:00 AM, Robert Corbett via J3 <j3 at mailman.j3-fortran.org> wrote:
> 
> Note that BIND(C) types have
> almost all of the same issues
> as sequence types and a few
> extra besides.  There will be
> very little benefit from
> eliminating sequence types
> unless BIND(C) types are also
> eliminated.
> 
> Bob Corbett
> 
> On Oct 14, 2020, at 10:48 PM, Damian Rouson via J3 <j3 at mailman.j3-fortran.org> wrote:
> 
>> 
>> 
>> On Wed, Oct 14, 2020 at 1:27 PM Bill Long via J3 <j3 at mailman.j3-fortran.org> wrote:
>> 
>> Relevance:  Since the advent of modules 3 decades ago, I’ve never se use of, or relevance of SEQUENCE types. 
>> 
>> Mystery: Why is SEQUENCE not in the Obsolescent list?  
>> 
>> I'm curious about this too.  Currently, obsolescent features are features for which better methods existed in a previous standard. If a feature has limited utility, however, it's unlikely that a better method would ever be developed so we might need to expand how we describe the nature of obsolescence. 
>> 
>> Like Bill, I have never seen SEQUENCE in use other than in compiler documentation or textbooks.  I find descriptions online of two use cases (see http://k2.chem.uh.edu/F95_Reference.pdf):
>> 
>> 1. Argument association of equivalent types, and
>> 2. Sequence association in COMMON blocks.  
>> 
>> Use case 1 seems similar to EQUIVALENCE, which is obsolescent.  Use case 2 is also obsolescent.  Unless I'm misreading or "misunderestimating" the uses, I think there's a strong case to be made for classifying SEQUENCE as obsolescent.
>> 
>> Damian  
>>  

Bill Long                                                                       longb at hpe.com
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