J3/01-315 Date 08/14/01 To: J3 From: Dan Nagle Subject: Response to a WG5 comment (value attribute) One of the comments made by WG5 members at the recent London meeting expressed a concern regarding the value attribute of dummy arguments. The criticism was that we hadn't thought this through very well. Fortran supports the value attribute for arguments of bind( c) procedures only. The question was raised regarding why not allow it generally, since anyone wishing to use it will simply write the interface to specify bind( c) . So the limitation is not effective and attempts to make it so only cause further damage. J3 members present were unable to provide a good answer to this question. WG5 expressed its desire to remove the restriction on value arguments from the draft. This paper is a vehicle for removing the restriction on value arguments from the draft should J3 decide to do so, or alternatively, for replying to WG5 with our reasons why the restriction on value arguments should be kept in the draft. To remove the restriction on value from the draft: (This version removes the restriction on value, if J3 decides to keep it, we can replace this version with an explanation of why we want to do so.) EDITS (Remove the constraint) 65:15-16 delete C528