A Free-Format Data Input Scheme Written in Fortran IV

摘要

Data for Fortran IV programs has to be in fixed format. Some users find this constraint irksome. This report presents a data input scheme for Fortran IV which makes the minimum of demands on the data structure. If the data is well-formed and unambiguous it will be read. Ill-formed and ambiguous data will also be read and given a reasonable interpretation, with the location of the suspect data and the value assumed being output as a (suppressible) error message. The scheme also allows input variables to retain their previous values, identical consecutive data to be input in a simplified form and alphanumeric comments to appear amongst the data. The whole data input scheme is written in standard Fortran IV so that the advantages of machine transferability of the program are retained.