To: J3 Members J3/16-129 From: Van Snyder Subject: Absurdity concerning namelist comment Reference: 16-007 Date: 2016 January 25 1. Introduction =============== 10.10.2p3 says a slash is a value separator. 10.11.3.6p1 says 'a "!" character after a value separator ... initiates a comment.' 10.11.3.2p3 says "A slash encountered as a value separator during the execution of a namelist input statement causes termination of execution of that input statement...." 10.11.3.2p4 says "A namelist comment may appear after any value separator except a slash." 10.11.3.2p5 says "Successive namelist records are read by namelist input until a slash is encountered; the remainder of the record is ignored and need not follow the rules for namelist input values." If a "!" appears after the slash that "causes termination of execution of that input statement" is the remainder of the record ignored (10.11.3.2p5), or does an error condition exist because a comment is not permitted after the slash (10.11.3.2p4), or is it OK because the input need not follow the rules for namelist input values (10.11.3.2p5)? The contradiction appears to be somewhat (errrm... completely) absurd. Hopefully, an interp is not needed to clear this up. 2. Edits ======== [xvi: Introduction, under "Input/Output"] Insert a sentence "A namelist comment is permitted after the slash that causes termination of execution of that input statement." {Maybe nothing is needed in the introduction, depending upon the thought process applied to resolve the absurd contradiction.} [274:28 10.11.3.2p4] Delete "except a slash".