Should I convert FORTRAN code to C?

[Jim Giles]

In article <1171 at mcgill-vision.UUCP>, mouse at mcgill-vision.UUCP (der Mouse) writes:
> [...]                                            (Why do we need a
> unary plus operator anyway?  I never missed it.)

The proposed ANSI standard for C has unary plus operators.  Among other
uses, it can force ordering of expression evaluation.  The famous case
where C doesn't evaluate a+(b+c) in any particular order is fixed by
doing a+ +(b+c).  The unary plus forces the subexpression to be eval-
uated before adding the other constant.

> [...]                         It sounds as though your sort of work is
> better expressed in FORTRAN.  Please stick to FORTRAN, then, and stop
> complaining about C.  You aren't complaining about how Snobol makes it
> difficult and slow to do what you want to do, are you?
> 
This is exactly the point of previous responses.  There really are things
This is exactly the point of previous responses.  There really are things
which are best done in Fortran.  The points raised about C in this
discussion are reasons for not switching.  No one is complaining about
C in isolation, these are legitimate answers to the original posting
about the desirability of switching to C.  As such, discussion of the
inadequacies of C for certain types of work are quite appropriate.

J. Giles
Los Alamos