To: J3 J3/18-144 From: Tom Clune Subject: POINTER dummy arguments, INTENT, and target modification Date: 2018-February-15 Reference: 18-122r1 Introduction: ------------- When Fortran first introduced dummy arguments with the POINTER attribute, INTENT for such arguments was disallowed due to an intrinsic ambiguity. Namely, whether the intent would refer to the pointer association status or to the modifications of its target. Subsequently the standard has introduced INTENT for pointer dummy arguments where the implications are for the pointer association. There are many situations in which it would be desirable to express whether the target of a pointer dummy argument can be modified through that target. Intent: ------- Introduce a mechanism whereby a procedure dummy argument with the POINTER attribute can have an attribute that specifies whether its target can be modified through the pointer. No specific syntax is suggested in this paper.