J3/04-256 To: J3 From: Craig Dedo Date: February 16, 2004 Subject: Period as Derived Type Delimiter Number: Title: Period as Derived Type Delimiter Submitted By: Craig Dedo Status: For Consideration References: Basic Functionality: Fortran should recognize the use of the period (.) as a delimiter in derived types in addition to the percent sign (%). Rationale: The main reason is aesthetic. The period in this context is easier to read. This is shown by the choice of the period as the derived type delimiter in most other languages that support derived types, including C, C++, and Java. Estimated Impact: There would be no effect on existing codes. This feature may cause a conflict with operators and pre-defined constants in fixed source form. This conflict could be resolved by defining the derived type delimiter to have a higher precedence than operators and pre-defined constants. Processors that already implement this feature as an extension always use this precedence rule. Implementation costs should be minimal. There may need to be some extra syntax checking. Detailed Specification: Change the rule to allow either a period or percent sign as the delimiter. History: