[MPI3 Fortran] Change character string declarations?

[N.M. Maclaren]

On May 26 2010, Lionel, Steve wrote:

> I think this is reasonable, though are you also changing other 
> declarations to use the :: syntax? CHARACTER(*) works too. As for kind 
> parameters, we've had extensive arguments about this before. For 
> character kinds, I suggest that leaving off the kind may be for the best 
> - otherwise you'll perhaps need to reference ISO_C_BINDING's C_CHAR 
> constant, and that seems to annoy others on this list. "Default 
> character" is probably safe and won't confuse users.

I would put it a LOT more strongly!  Character KIND is rarely used in
scientific code, and I don't know whether anyone has investigated how
reliably it can be mixed with default characters.  Stick with the default,
though providing guidelines as to what names implementations should use
for the others if they provide them would be reasonable.

Regards,
Nick Maclaren.