J3/04-113

Date:    08 Dec. 2003
To:      J3
From:    Dan Nagle
Subject: FINDLOC (a/k/a FIRSTLOC/LASTLOC)


While formating 03-269r1 item 3 as an N1496 paper,
I'd like to change the syntax a bit.  I propose
that a FINDLOC intrinsic with a BACK= argument be pursued
instead of separate FIRSTLOC and LASTLOC intrinsics.

Number:

Title: FINDLOC

Submitted By: J3

Status: For Consideration

References: 03-106, Public Comment by Jean Vizena

Basic Functionality: Intrinsic returns location of first true,
                     starting from the first or last element of an array.

Rationale:  Considered in response to a public comment, this formulation
            is modeled after the character search routines index, scan,
            and verify.  A BACK= is used to distinguish forward and
            backward searches, this may result is coding convience
            or in more compact code.

Estimated Impact: This is yet another search routine along the lines
                  of minloc/maxloc.

Detailed Specification: FINDLOC( mask [, BACK= s-l-e])
                        Returns the indices of the first true,
                        starting with the first element of mask.
                        If BACK= is present and the s-l-e evaluates to true,
                        returns the index of the first true element
                        starting with the last element and searching
                        backwards.

                        For symmetry, it may be desirable to add
                        a BACK= to MAXLOC and MINLOC, however, this paper
                        does not porpose to do so.

History: