| N. Shamsundar 2006-04-20, 8:03 am |
| robert.corbett@sun.com wrote:
<-- CUT --->
> As far as the OS file system is concerned, the program is trying to
> read
> past the end of the file. As far as the Fortran I/O system is
> concerned,
> the program is trying to read a record that has not been written.
> Fortran
> I/O does not recognize the concept of the end of a file connected for
> direct acess.
>
> The Fortran I/O system has a different concept of I/O from that of most
> modern file systems. Working out the mapping between them can be
> problematic. Since different file systems work differently, the
> mapping is system dependent.
>
That is an excellent point and it is easy for a Fortran programmer to
fall into the trap of assuming that the mapping between the Fortran
runtime and the OS I/O system is _complete_.
Do you think that the Fortran standard defines the terminology in
sufficient detail? Do Fortran reference manuals avoid confusing the
reader as to terms such as 'record' when the Fortran 'record' is not the
same as the file-system 'record'?
N. Shamsundar
University of Houston
|