08-226r1
To: J3
From: Van Snyder, originally Michael Ingrassia
Subject: Public Comment J32012
Date: 2008 August 11

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Commenter: Robert Corbett
Subject: "attributes"

The Fortran 2008 draft states that attributes are
properties of entities.  That definition does not
precisely cover all uses of attributes.  Attributes
are properties of names.  The attributes of a name
usually reflect properties of the entity named by
the name, but not always.

Consider the following program:

       REAL FUNCTION F()
         F = 1.0
       END

       MODULE MOD
         EXTERNAL F
         REAL F
       END

       SUBROUTINE SUBR(F)
         EXTERNAL F
       END

       PROGRAM MAIN
         USE MOD, G => F
         X = F(X)
         CALL SUBR(F)      ! not standard conforming
         CALL SUBR(G)
       END

In the main program, the name F is known to be the
name of an external function, but it does not have
an explicit interface and it is not declared to have
the EXTERNAL attribute.  The name G is declared to
have the EXTERNAL attribute, and so it can be used
as an actual argument.  Both F and G name the same
function, but only G is declared to have the
EXTERNAL attribute.  Therefore, the EXTERNAL
attribute must be a property of the name, not the
function.

The attributes ASYNCHRONOUS and VOLATILE also are
attributes of names that do not specify properties
of the entities names.

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J3 response:

Although F has the EXTERNAL attribute, subclause 5.3.9 requires that
a procedure used as an actual argument shall be declared to have the
EXTERNAL attribute.  Therefore the program is not standard conforming.

The definition of "attribute" in 2.1.6 is not defective.

The definition of attributes in 5.1 is not defective, but is incomplete.
An edit is supplied to complete the definition.

[08-007r2:5.1]
Editor: At the end of the subclause insert a paragraph:

"The name of an entity may have attributes that are not attributes of
the entity in all contexts.  These include accessibility attributes, and
the ASYNCHRONOUS and VOLATILE attributes."