[MPI3 Fortran] WG mission statement / bullets

[Lionel, Steve]

Hubert Ritzdorf wrote:

> I think that the Fortran Programmers expect that these definitions are made in Fortran integers and not in C_INT's.
> They want to use Fortran and not C and they want that the Fortran compiler features are supported (such as expansion > of integers, reals and double precisions).

Fortran programmers would be using Fortran integers.  The KIND value just makes sure that they're the right kind of Fortran integers.  I am not asking Fortran programmers to code in C and the fact that C_INT is used would be invisible.  This is just a standard-conforming way of saying "give me this platform's default integer kind".  You're not expecting users to recompile the MPI library each time, are you?

Whatever is done here has no effect whatsoever on "expansion of integers, reals and double precisions".  What it does do is help prevent hard-to-diagnose errors with mismatched arguments.  Using generics, it's possible to define a routine that accepts different signatures, if that seems appropriate.  But the need for kind values remains.


Steve Lionel
Intel Developer Support
Nashua, NH