J3/01-311

To:      J3
From:    Larry Meadows
Date:    August 6, 2001
Subject: Square brackets for array constructors
References: 01-124R1, Issue #119

01-124R1 allows square brackets to be used to delimit
array constructors, in place of (/ and /).

This usage conflicts with the usage of square brackets
to delimit interval constants. It also conflicts with
the usage of square brackets in Co-array Fortran.

While neither intervals nor Co-array Fortran are standards,
they do have a growing following. Furthermore, the use
of square brackets for array constructors seems to
be gratuitous; to quote from 01-124R1:

"Issue 119 advocates to put some use to the square brackets
that have been added to the Fortran alphabet -- namely to
enclose array constructors."

This use of square brackets adds no new functionality to
the language and conflicts with two common extensions. It
should be removed.

Edits:

[60:30] Delete
[60:33-34] Delete
[61:27] Change '[' to '(\' and ']' to '/)' three times
[61:36] Change '[' to '(/' and ']' to '/)'