J3/05-144r1 To: J3 From: Jeanne Martin Subject: Rank > 7 Date: Feb. 7, 2005 The hate-love vote for this one was 0-3-10-0. Number: Title: Rank > 7 Submitted By: J3 Status: For Consideration Basic Functionality: Relax the restriction on the maximum rank of an array. Rationale: The limit of seven dimensions was set when Fortran was first published in 1957 and has never been changed. Requests for increasing this limit have been made by international bodies for years. See the previous WG5 repository N1189, Numbers 24 (from the Russian Fortran Working Group) and Number 24a (from X3J3, JOR 95-004r1, item 067). Estimated Impact: (Listed as 4 on the JKR scale) The standard would require changes in two places. This will not impact any existing code. Any other impact should be apparent only when arrays of rank greater than seven are declared and referenced. Detailed Specification: Increase the maximum permitted rank for arrays. Changes would be needed to the following places in F2003: [18:5] An array may have up to seven dimensions ... [78:4] C541 (R510) The maximum rank is seven. (repeated in Annex D, page 517) History: J3-134, Change max 255 to > 7 approved by US TAG for F2000 as medium priority WG5-N1189 (20 June 1996) J3/05-144, J3/05-144r1