Re: The joy of FORTRAN

Charlie Gibbs <cgibbs@kltpzyxm.invalid> wrote:

On 2024-09-27, Lawrence D'Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:
 

On Thu, 26 Sep 2024 17:52:04 -0700, Peter Flass wrote:
 

Another thing PL/I got from COBOL is “natural” string handling. Assign a
short string to a larger any the result is automatically blank-padded.

 
That kind of misfeature is only needed in the sad world of non-dynamic,
fixed-length strings ...

 
Which for many of us was the only world that existed at the time.
 

I think still does. You wouldn’t want to print too long a name on a check,
for instance, just because your system allows it and some literal clerk
just types in what they see.

--
Pete