[MPI3 Fortran] Agenda for MPI3 Fortran Working group next week

[Lionel, Steve]

Jeff Squyres wrote:

> Before the Fortran guys storm in with their replies ;-), I'll mention  
> that I think that using integer handles is a horrid idea for Fortran.   
> It was done with good reason back in the 90s, but the language has  
> evolved such that we can give much better type safety these days.   

As a "Fortran guy", I'll agree 100% with Jeff.  If the object is truly a handle, it should be declared as an opaque type in Fortran, which is done as an interoperable derived type with PRIVATE components, similar to C_PTR.  The major objection that would be raised to this is that it means changing existing code that was written to use integer handles.  In most cases, it may just be changing a declaration here and there, but it is a barrier to adopting the new interface.

On the other hand, if we do it right, there will be many advantages to the new bindings and adoption should go well.

Steve Lionel
Intel Developer Support
Nashua, NH