On Sun, 10 Oct 2004, Fan wrote:
> For occasional users, I would say, there's no worst thing than that: > you installed the new release, and soem of your existing codes no > longer work !
There is a close parallel here. On comp.lang.fortran, a frequent problem is that existing code doesn't work with a new compiler. Such complaints are often from occasional Fortran users, those who have inherited code from others, or those who have been using a single compiler for 20 years and have finally updated.
In the vast majority of cases, the code in question is not standard conforming. Either (1) the old compiler ignored various syntax errors, (2) it gave the right answer by luck (i.e., the programmer made assumptions that the compiler met, but that Fortran in general does not meet), or (3) the old release gave the wrong answers, which were never checked.
So, in response to Fan's assertion, I say: NO! It's often a good thing when existing codes no longer work. That provides an opportunity to fix them. The worst thing is to have bad code run and give the wrong answer for the question (you think) you're asking.
-- Michael Prager, Ph.D. <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> NOAA Beaufort Laboratory Beaufort, North Carolina 28516 http://shrimp.ccfhrb.noaa.gov/~mprager/ ***
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