cfortran.h: Interfacing C or C++ and FORTRAN


Author:Burkhard Burow
Email: burow@desy.de
www: www-zeus.desy.de/~burow/cfortran

Supports:

          Alpha and VAX VMS, Alpha OSF, DECstation and VAX Ultrix, IBM RS/6000, 
          Silicon Graphics, Sun, CRAY, Apollo, HP9000, LynxOS, Convex, Absoft,
          f2c, g77, NAG f90, PowerStation FORTRAN with Visual C++, NEC SX-4,
          Portland Group.
C and C++ are generally equivalent as far as cfortran.h is concerned. Unless explicitly noted otherwise, mention of C implicitly includes C++. C++ compilers tested include:

  SunOS> CC +p +w      # Clean compiles.
  IRIX>  CC            # Clean compiles.
  IRIX>  CC -fullwarn  # Still some warnings to be overcome.
  GNU>   g++ -Wall     # Compiles are clean, other than warnings for unused
                       #   cfortran.h static routines.
N.B.: The best documentation on interfacing C or C++ and FORTRAN is in the chapter named something like 'Interfacing C and FORTRAN' to be found in the user's guide of almost every FORTRAN compiler. Understanding this information for one or more FORTRAN compilers greatly clarifies the aims and actions of cfortran.h. Such a chapter generally also addresses issues orthogonal to cfortran.h, for example the order of array indices, the index of the first element, as well as compiling and linking issues.

Short Summary of the Syntax Required to Create the Interface

e.g. Prototyping a FORTRAN subroutine for C: PROTOCCALLSFSUBni is optional for C, but mandatory for C++.
                 PROTOCCALLSFSUB2(SUB_NAME,sub_name,STRING,PINT)
#define SUB_NAME(A,B) CCALLSFSUB2(SUB_NAME,sub_name,STRING,PINT, A,B)

                                ^     -                                       -
       number of arguments _____|    |   STRING   BYTE    PBYTE       BYTEV(..)|
                                  /  |   STRINGV  DOUBLE  PDOUBLE   DOUBLEV(..)|
                                 /   |  PSTRING   FLOAT   PFLOAT     FLOATV(..)|
        types of arguments ____ /    | PNSTRING   INT     PINT         INTV(..)|
                                \    | PPSTRING   LOGICAL PLOGICAL LOGICALV(..)|
                                 \   |  PSTRINGV  LONG    PLONG       LONGV(..)|
                                  \  |   ZTRINGV  SHORT   PSHORT     SHORTV(..)|
                                     |  PZTRINGV  ROUTINE PVOID      SIMPLE    |
                                      -                                       -
e.g. Prototyping a FORTRAN function for C:
/* PROTOCCALLSFFUNn is mandatory for both C and C++. */
PROTOCCALLSFFUN1(INT,FUN_NAME,fun_name,STRING)
#define FUN_NAME(A)  CCALLSFFUN1(FUN_NAME,fun_name,STRING, A)
e.g. calling FUN_NAME from C:
    {int a; a = FUN_NAME("hello");}
e.g. Creating a FORTRAN-callable wrapper for a C function returning void, with a 7 dimensional integer array argument: [Not supported from C++.]
FCALLSCSUB1(csub_name,CSUB_NAME,csub_name,INTVVVVVVV)
e.g. Creating a FORTRAN-callable wrapper for other C functions:
FCALLSCFUN1(STRING,cfun_name,CFUN_NAME,cfun_name,INT)
           [ ^-- BYTE, DOUBLE, FLOAT, INT, LOGICAL, LONG, SHORT, VOID  
             are other types returned by functions.       ]
e.g. COMMON BLOCKs:
FORTRAN:

                         common /fcb/  v,w,x
                                 character *(13) v, w(4), x(3,2)

C:

typedef struct { char v[13],w[4][13],x[2][3][13]; } FCB_DEF;
#define FCB COMMON_BLOCK(FCB,fcb)
COMMON_BLOCK_DEF(FCB_DEF,FCB);
FCB_DEF FCB;    /* Define, i.e. allocate memory, in exactly one *.c file. */
e.g. accessing FCB in C:
          printf("%.13s",FCB.v);

I) Introduction

cfortran.h is an easy-to-use powerful bridge between C and FORTRAN. It provides a completely transparent, machine independent interface between C and FORTRAN routines (= subroutines and/or functions) and global data, i.e. structures and COMMON blocks.

The complete cfortran.h package consists of 4 files: the documentation in cfortran.doc, the engine cfortran.h, examples in cfortest.c and cfortex.f/or. [cfortex.for under VMS, cfortex.f on other machines.]

The cfortran.h package continues to be developed. The most recent version is available via WWW at http://www-zeus.desy.de/~burow/cfortran.

The examples may be run using one of the following sets of instructions:

N.B. Unlike earlier versions, cfortran.h 3.0 and later versions automatically uses the correct ANSI ## or pre-ANSI /**/ preprocessor operator as required by the C compiler.

N.B. As a general rule when trying to determine how to link C and FORTRAN, link a trivial FORTRAN program using the FORTRAN compilers verbose option, in order to see how the FORTRAN compiler drives the linker. e.g.

       unix> cat f.f
                END
       unix> f77 -v f.f
       .. lots of info. follows ...

N.B. If using a C main(), i.e. FORTRAN PROGRAM is not entry of the executable, and if the link bombs with a complaint about a missing "MAIN" (e.g. MAIN__, MAIN_, f90_main or similar), then FORTRAN has hijacked the entry point to the executable and wishes to call the rest of the executable via "MAIN". This can usually be satisfied by doing e.g. 'cc -Dmain=MAIN__ ...' but often kills the command line arguments in argv and argc. The f77 verbose option, usually -v, may point to a solution.

RS/6000> # Users are strongly urged to use f77 -qextname and cc -Dextname
RS/6000> # Use -Dextname=extname if extname is a symbol used in the C code.
RS/6000> xlf -c -qextname cfortex.f
RS/6000> cc  -c -Dextname cfortest.c
RS/6000> xlf -o cfortest cfortest.o cfortex.o && cfortest 

DECFortran> #Only DECstations with DECFortran for Ultrix RISC Systems.
DECFortran> cc -c -DDECFortran cfortest.c
DECFortran> f77 -o cfortest cfortest.o cfortex.f  &&  cfortest

IRIX xxxxxx 5.2 02282015 IP20 mips
MIPS> # DECstations and Silicon Graphics using the MIPS compilers.
MIPS> cc -o cfortest cfortest.c cfortex.f -lI77 -lU77 -lF77  &&  cfortest
MIPS> # Can also let f77 drive linking, e.g.
MIPS> cc -c cfortest.c
MIPS> f77 -o cfortest cfortest.o cfortex.f  &&  cfortest

Apollo> # Some 'C compiler 68K Rev6.8' break. [See Section II o) Notes: Apollo]
Apollo> f77 -c cfortex.f && cc -o cfortest cfortest.c cfortex.o  &&  cfortest

VMS> define lnk$library sys$library:vaxcrtl
VMS> cc cfortest.c
VMS> fortran cfortex.for
VMS> link/exec=cfortest cfortest,cfortex
VMS> run cfortest

OSF1 xxxxxx V3.0 347 alpha
Alpha/OSF> # Probably better to let cc drive linking, e.g.
Alpha/OSF> f77 -c cfortex.f
Alpha/OSF> cc  -o cfortest cfortest.c cfortex.o -lUfor -lfor -lFutil -lots -lm
Alpha/OSF> cfortest
Alpha/OSF> # Else may need 'cc -Dmain=MAIN__' to let f77 drive linking.

Sun> # Some old cc(1) need a little help. [See Section II o) Notes: Sun]
Sun> f77 -o cfortest cfortest.c cfortex.f -lc -lm  &&  cfortest
Sun> # Some older f77 may require 'cc -Dmain=MAIN_'.

CRAY> cft77 cfortex.f
CRAY> cc -c cfortest.c
CRAY> segldr -o cfortest.e cfortest.o cfortex.o
CRAY> ./cfortest.e

NEC> cc -c -Xa cfortest.c
NEC> f77 -o cfortest cfortest.o cfortex.f  &&  cfortest

VAX/Ultrix/cc> # For cc on VAX Ultrix only, do the following once to cfortran.h.
VAX/Ultrix/cc> mv cfortran.h cftmp.h && grep -v "^#pragma" cfortran.h
                                            
VAX/Ultrix/f77> # In the following, 'CC' is either 'cc' or 'gcc -ansi'. NOT'vcc'
VAX/Ultrix/f77> CC -c -Dmain=MAIN_ cfortest.c
VAX/Ultrix/f77> f77 -o cfortest cfortex.f cfortest.o  &&  cfortest

LynxOS> # In the following, 'CC' is either 'cc' or 'gcc -ansi'.
LynxOS> # Unfortunately cc is easily overwhelmed by cfortran.h,
LynxOS> #  and won't compile some of the cfortest.c demos.
LynxOS> f2c -R cfortex.f
LynxOS> CC -Dlynx -o cfortest cfortest.c cfortex.c -lf2c  &&  cfortest

HP9000> # Tested with HP-UX 7.05 B 9000/380 and with A.08.07 A 9000/730
HP9000> # CC may be either 'c89 -Aa' or 'cc -Aa'
HP9000> #    Depending on the compiler version, you may need to include the
HP9000> #    option '-tp,/lib/cpp' or worse, you'll have to stick to the K&R C.
HP9000> #    [See Section II o) Notes: HP9000]
HP9000> # Users are strongly urged to use f77 +ppu and cc -Dextname
HP9000> # Use -Dextname=extname if extname is a symbol used in the C code.
HP9000> CC  -Dextname -c cfortest.c
HP9000> f77 +ppu         cfortex.f  -o cfortest cfortest.o && cfortest
HP9000> # Older f77 may need
HP9000> f77 -c cfortex.f
HP9000> CC -o cfortest cfortest.c cfortex.o -lI77 -lF77 && cfortest

HP0000> # If old-style f77 +800 compiled objects are required:
HP9000> # #define hpuxFortran800
HP9000> cc -c -Aa -DhpuxFortran800 cfortest.c
HP9000> f77 +800 -o cfortest cfortest.o cfortex.f

f2c> # In the following, 'CC' is any C compiler.
f2c> f2c -R cfortex.f
f2c> CC -o cfortest -Df2cFortran cfortest.c cfortex.c -lf2c  &&  cfortest

Portland Group $ # Presumably other C compilers also work.
Portland Group $ pgcc -DpgiFortran -c cfortest.c
Portland Group $ pgf77 -o cfortest cfortex.f cfortest.o && cfortest

NAGf90> # cfortex.f is distributed with FORTRAN 77 style comments.
NAGf90> # To convert to f90 style comments do the following once to cfortex.f: 
NAGf90> mv cfortex.f cf_temp.f && sed 's/^C/\!/g' cf_temp.f > cfortex.f
NAGf90> # In the following, 'CC' is any C compiler.
NAGf90> CC -c -DNAGf90Fortran cfortest.c
NAGf90> f90 -o cfortest cfortest.o cfortex.f &&  cfortest

PC> # On a PC with PowerStation FORTRAN and Visual_C++
PC> cl /c cftest.c
PC> fl32  cftest.obj cftex.for

GNU> # GNU FORTRAN
GNU> # See Section VI caveat on using 'gcc -traditional'.
GNU> gcc -ansi -Wall -O -c -Df2cFortran cfortest.c
GNU> g77 -ff2c -o cfortest cfortest.o cfortex.f &&  cfortest

AbsoftUNIX> # Absoft FORTRAN for all UNIX based operating systems.
AbsoftUNIX> # e.g. Linux or Next on Intel or Motorola68000.
AbsoftUNIX> # Absoft f77 -k allows FORTRAN routines to be safely called from C.
AbsoftUNIX> gcc -ansi -Wall -O -c -DAbsoftUNIXFortran cfortest.c
AbsoftUNIX> f77 -k -o cfortest cfortest.o cfortex.f && cfortest

AbsoftPro> # Absoft Pro FORTRAN for MacOS
AbsoftPro> # Use #define AbsoftProFortran

CLIPPER> # INTERGRAPH CLIX using CLIPPER C and FORTRAN compilers.
CLIPPER> # N.B. - User, not cfortran.h, is responsible for
CLIPPER> #        f77initio() and f77uninitio() if required.
CLIPPER> #      - LOGICAL values are not mentioned in CLIPPER doc.s,
CLIPPER> #        so they may not yet be correct in cfortran.h.
CLIPPER> #      - K&R mode (-knr or Ac=knr) breaks FLOAT functions
CLIPPER> #        (see CLIPPER doc.s) and cfortran.h does not fix it up.
CLIPPER> #        [cfortran.h ok for old sun C which made the same mistake.]
CLIPPER> acc cfortest.c -c -DCLIPPERFortran
CLIPPER> af77 cfortex.f cfortest.o -o cfortest
By changing the SELECTion ifdef of cfortest.c and recompiling one can try out a few dozen different few-line examples.

The benefits of using cfortran.h include:

  1. Machine/OS/compiler independent mixing of C and FORTRAN.

  2. Identical (within syntax) calls across languages, e.g.
    FORTRAN:
    
          CALL HBOOK1(1,'pT spectrum of pi+',100,0.,5.,0.)
    
    C:
          HBOOK1(1,"pT spectrum of pi+",100,0.,5.,0.);
    

  3. Each routine need only be set up once in its lifetime. e.g. Setting up a FORTRAN routine to be called by C. ID,...,VMX are merely the names of arguments. These tags must be unique w.r.t. each other but are otherwise arbitrary.
    PROTOCCALLSFSUB6(HBOOK1,hbook1,INT,STRING,INT,FLOAT,FLOAT,FLOAT)
    #define HBOOK1(ID,CHTITLE,NX,XMI,XMA,VMX)                        \
         CCALLSFSUB6(HBOOK1,hbook1,INT,STRING,INT,FLOAT,FLOAT,FLOAT, \
                   ID,CHTITLE,NX,XMI,XMA,VMX) 
    

  4. Source code is NOT required for the C routines exported to FORTRAN, nor for the FORTRAN routines imported to C. In fact, routines are most easily prototyped using the information in the routines' documentation.

  5. Routines, and the code calling them, can be coded naturally in the language of choice. C routines may be coded with the natural assumption of being called only by C code. cfortran.h does all the required work for FORTRAN code to call C routines. Similarly it also does all the work required for C to call FORTRAN routines. Therefore:

  6. cfortran.h is a single ~1700 line C include file; portable to most remaining, if not all, platforms.

  7. STRINGS and VECTORS of STRINGS along with the usual simple arguments to routines are supported as are functions returning STRINGS or numbers. Arrays of pointers to strings and values of structures as C arguments, will soon be implemented. After learning the machinery of cfortran.h, users can expand it to create custom types of arguments. [This requires no modification to cfortran.h, all the preprocessor directives required to implement the custom types can be defined outside cfortran.h]

  8. cfortran.h requires each routine to be exported to be explicitly set up. While is usually only be done once in a header file it would be best if applications were required to do no work at all in order to cross languages. cfortran.h's simple syntax could be a convenient back-end for a program which would export FORTRAN or C routines directly from the source code.

Example 1

cfortran.h has been used to make the C header file hbook.h, which then gives any C programmer, e.g. example.c, full and completely transparent access to CERN's HBOOK library of routines. Each HBOOK routine required about 3 lines of simple code in hbook.h. The example also demonstrates how FORTRAN common blocks are defined and used.
/* hbook.h */
#include "cfortran.h"
        :
PROTOCCALLSFSUB6(HBOOK1,hbook1,INT,STRING,INT,FLOAT,FLOAT,FLOAT)
#define HBOOK1(ID,CHTITLE,NX,XMI,XMA,VMX)                        \
     CCALLSFSUB6(HBOOK1,hbook1,INT,STRING,INT,FLOAT,FLOAT,FLOAT, \
               ID,CHTITLE,NX,XMI,XMA,VMX) 
        :
/* end hbook.h */



/* example.c */
#include "hbook.h"
        :
typedef struct {
  int lines;  
  int status[SIZE];
  float p[SIZE];  /* momentum */
} FAKE_DEF;
#define FAKE COMMON_BLOCK(FAKE,fake)
COMMON_BLOCK_DEF(FAKE_DEF,FAKE);
        :
main ()
{
        :
           HBOOK1(1,"pT spectrum of pi+",100,0.,5.,0.);
/* c.f. the call in FORTRAN:
      CALL HBOOK1(1,'pT spectrum of pi+',100,0.,5.,0.)
*/
        :
  FAKE.p[7]=1.0;
	:
}           
N.B.
  1. The routine is language independent.
  2. hbook.h is machine independent.
  3. Applications using routines via cfortran.h are machine independent.

Example 2

Many VMS System calls are most easily called from FORTRAN, but cfortran.h now gives that ease in C.
#include "cfortran.h"

PROTOCCALLSFSUB3(LIB$SPAWN,lib$spawn,STRING,STRING,STRING)
#define LIB$SPAWN(command,input_file,output_file)          \
     CCALLSFSUB3(LIB$SPAWN,lib$spawn,STRING,STRING,STRING, \
                  command,input_file,output_file)

main ()
{
LIB$SPAWN("set term/width=132","","");
}
Obviously the cfortran.h command above could be put into a header file along with the description of the other system calls, but as this example shows, it's not much hassle to set up cfortran.h for even a single call.

Example 3

cfortran.h and the source cstring.c create the cstring.obj library which gives FORTRAN access to all the functions in C's system library described by the system's C header file string.h.
C     EXAMPLE.FOR
      PROGRAM EXAMPLE
      DIMENSION I(20), J(30)
        :
      CALL MEMCPY(I,J,7)
        :
      END

/* cstring.c */
#include              /* string.h prototypes memcpy() */
#include "cfortran.h"

        :
FCALLSCSUB3(memcpy,MEMCPY,memcpy,PVOID,PVOID,INT)
        :
The simplicity exhibited in the above example exists for many but not all machines. Note 4. of Section II ii) details the limitations and describes tools which try to maintain the best possible interface when FORTRAN calls C routines.

II) Using cfortran.h

The user is asked to look at the source files cfortest.c and cfortex.f for clarification by example.

o) Notes:

i) Calling FORTRAN routines from C:

The FORTRAN routines are defined by one of the following two instructions:

for a SUBROUTINE:

/* PROTOCCALLSFSUBn is optional for C, but mandatory for C++. */
PROTOCCALLSFSUBn(ROUTINE_NAME,routine_name,argtype_1,...,argtype_n)
#define     Routine_name(argname_1,..,argname_n)               \
CCALLSFSUBn(ROUTINE_NAME,routine_name,argtype_1,...,argtype_n, \
                         argname_1,..,argname_n) 
for a FUNCTION:
PROTOCCALLSFFUNn(routine_type,ROUTINE_NAME,routine_name,argtype_1,...,argtype_n)
#define     Routine_name(argname_1,..,argname_n)               \
CCALLSFFUNn(ROUTINE_NAME,routine_name,argtype_1,...,argtype_n, \
                         argname_1,..,argname_n) 
Where:
'n' = 0->14 [SUBROUTINE's ->27] (easily expanded in cfortran.h to > 14 [27]) is 
    the number of arguments to the routine.
Routine_name = C       name of the routine (IN UPPER CASE LETTERS).[see 2.below]
ROUTINE_NAME = FORTRAN name of the routine (IN UPPER CASE LETTERS).
routine_name = FORTRAN name of the routine (IN lower case LETTERS).
routine_type = the type of argument returned by FORTRAN functions.
             = BYTE, DOUBLE, FLOAT, INT, LOGICAL, LONG, SHORT, STRING, VOID.
               [Instead of VOID one would usually use CCALLSFSUBn.
                VOID forces a wrapper function to be used.]
argtype_i    = the type of argument passed to the FORTRAN routine and must be
               consistent in the definition and prototyping of the routine s.a.
             = BYTE, DOUBLE, FLOAT, INT, LOGICAL, LONG, SHORT, STRING.
             For vectors, i.e. 1 dim. arrays use 
             = BYTEV, DOUBLEV, FLOATV, INTV, LOGICALV, LONGV, SHORTV, 
               STRINGV, ZTRINGV.
             For vectors of vectors, i.e. 2 dim. arrays use
             = BYTEVV, DOUBLEVV, FLOATVV, INTVV, LOGICALVV, LONGVV, SHORTVV.
             For n-dim. arrays, 1<=n<=7 [7 is the maximum in FORTRAN 77],
             = BYTEV..nV's..V, DOUBLEV..V, FLOATV..V, INTV..V, LOGICALV..V, 
               LONGV..V, SHORTV..V.
                N.B. Array dimensions and types are checked by the C compiler.
             For routines changing the values of an argument, the keyword is 
                  prepended by a 'P'.
             = PBYTE, PDOUBLE, PFLOAT, PINT, PLOGICAL, PLONG, PSHORT,
               PSTRING, PSTRINGV, PZTRINGV.
             For EXTERNAL procedures passed as arguments use
             = ROUTINE.
             For exceptional arguments which require no massaging to fit the
                  argument passing mechanisms use
             = PVOID.
                The argument is cast and passed as (void *).
                Although PVOID could be used to describe all array arguments on
                most (all?) machines , it shouldn't be because the C compiler
                can no longer check the type and dimension of the array.
argname_i    = any valid unique C tag, but must be consistent in the definition 
               as shown.
Notes:

  1. cfortran.h may be expanded to handle a more argument type. To suppport new arguments requiring complicated massaging when passed between FORTRAN and C, the user will have to understand cfortran.h and follow its code and mechanisms.

    To define types requiring little or no massaging when passed between FORTRAN and C, the pseudo argument type SIMPLE may be used. For a user defined type called 'newtype', the definitions required are:

    /* The following 7 lines are required verbatim.
       'newtype' is the name of the new user defined argument type.
    */
    #define newtype_cfV(  T,A,B,F)       SIMPLE_cfV(T,A,B,F)
    #define newtype_cfSEP(T,  B)         SIMPLE_cfSEP(T,B)
    #define newtype_cfINT(N,A,B,X,Y,Z)   SIMPLE_cfINT(N,A,B,X,Y,Z)
    #define newtype_cfSTR(N,T,A,B,C,D,E) SIMPLE_cfSTR(N,T,A,B,C,D,E)
    #define newtype_cfCC( T,A,B)         SIMPLE_cfCC(T,A,B)
    #define newtype_cfAA( T,A,B)         newtype_cfB(T,A) /* Argument B not used. */
    #define newtype_cfU(  T,A)           newtype_cfN(T,A)
    
    /* 'parameter_type(A)' is a declaration for 'A' and describes the type of the 
    parameter expected by the FORTRAN function.  This type will be used in the
    prototype for the function, if  using ANSI C, and to declare the argument used
    by the intermediate function if calling a FORTRAN FUNCTION.
    Valid 'parameter_type(A)' include: int A
                                       void (*A)()
                                       double A[17]
    */
    #define newtype_cfN(  T,A)     parameter_type(A)      /* Argument T not used. */
    
    /* Before any argument of the new type is passed to the FORTRAN routine, it may
    be massaged as given by 'massage(A)'.
    */
    #define newtype_cfB(  T,A)     massage(A)             /* Argument T not used. */
    
    An example of a simple user defined type is given cfortex.f and cfortest.c.
    Two uses of SIMPLE user defined types are [don't show the 7 verbatim #defines]:
    
    /* Pass the address of a structure, using a type called PSTRUCT */
    #define PSTRUCT_cfN(  T,A)        void *A
    #define PSTRUCT_cfB(  T,A)       (void *) &(A)
    
    /* Pass an integer by value, (not standard F77 ), using a type called INTVAL */
    #define INTVAL_cfN(   T,A)      int A
    #define INTVAL_cfB(   T,A)         (A)
    
    [If using VAX VMS, surrounding the #defines with "#pragma (no)standard" allows
     the %CC-I-PARAMNOTUSED messages to be avoided.]
    
    Upgrades to cfortran.h try to be, and have been, backwards compatible. This compatibility cannot be offered to user defined types. SIMPLE user defined types are less of a risk since they require so little effort in their creation. If a user defined type is required in more than one C header file of interfaces to libraries of FORTRAN routines, good programming practice, and ease of code maintenance, suggests keeping any user defined type within a single file which is #included as required. To date, changes to the SIMPLE macros were introduced in versions 2.6, 3.0 and 3.2 of cfortran.h.

  2. Routine_name is the name of the macro which the C programmer will use in order to call a FORTRAN routine. In theory Routine_name could be any valid and unique name, but in practice, the name of the FORTRAN routine in UPPER CASE works everywhere and would seem to be an obvious choice.

  3. [BYTE|DOUBLE|BYTE|DOUBLE|FLOAT|INT|LOGICAL|LONG|SHORT][V|VV|VVV|...]

    cfortran.h encourages the exact specification of the type and dimension of array parameters because it allows the C compiler to detect errors in the arguments when calling the routine.

    cfortran.h does not strictly require the exact specification since the argument is merely the address of the array and is passed on to the calling routine. Any array parameter could be declared as PVOID, but this circumvents C's compiletime ability to check the correctness of arguments and is therefore discouraged.

    Passing the address of these arguments implies that PBYTEV, PFLOATV, ... , PDOUBLEVV, ... don't exist in cfortran.h, since by default the routine and the calling code share the same array, i.e. the same values at the same memory location.

    These comments do NOT apply to arrays of (P)S/ZTRINGV. For these parameters, cfortran.h passes a massaged copy of the array to the routine. When the routine returns, S/ZTRINGV ignores the copy, while PS/ZTRINGV replaces the calling code's original array with copy, which may have been modified by the called routine.

  4. (P)STRING(V):

    Summary: STRING(V) arguments are blank padded during the call to the FORTRAN routine, but remain original in the C code. (P)STRINGV arguments are blank padded for the FORTRAN call, and after returning from FORTRAN trailing blanks are stripped off.

  5. (P)ZTRINGV:

  6. ROUTINE The argument is an EXTERNAL procedure. When C passes a routine to FORTRAN, the language of the function must be specified as follows: [The case of some_*_function must be given as shown.]

    When C passes a C routine to a FORTRAN:

        FORTRAN_ROUTINE(arg1, .... ,       
                        C_FUNCTION(SOME_C_FUNCTION,some_c_function),
                        ...., argn);
    
    and similarly when C passes a FORTRAN routine to FORTRAN:
        FORTRAN_ROUTINE(arg1, .... ,
                        FORTRAN_FUNCTION(SOME_FORT_FUNCTION,some_fort_function),
                        ...., argn);
    
    If fcallsc has been redefined; the same definition of fcallsc used when creating the wrapper for 'some_c_function' must also be defined when C_FUNCTION is used. See ii) 5. of this section for when and how to redefine fcallsc. ROUTINE was introduced with cfortran.h version 2.6. Earlier versions of cfortran.h used PVOID to pass external procedures as arguments. Using PVOID for this purpose is no longer recommended since it won't work 'as is' for apolloFortran, hpuxFortran800, AbsoftUNIXFortran, AbsoftProFortran.

  7. CRAY only:

    In a given piece of source code, where FFUNC is any FORTRAN routine, FORTRAN_FUNCTION(FFUNC,ffunc) disallows a previous #define FFUNC(..) CCALLSFSUBn(FFUNC,ffunc,...) [ or CCALLSFFUNn] in order to make the UPPER CASE FFUNC callable from C. #define Ffunc(..) ... is OK though, as are obviously any other names.

ii) Calling C routines from FORTRAN:

Each of the following two statements to export a C routine to FORTRAN create FORTRAN 'wrappers', written in C, which must be compiled and linked along with the original C routines and with the FORTRAN calling code.

FORTRAN callable 'wrappers' may also be created for C macros. i.e. in this section, the term 'C function' may be replaced by 'C macro'.

for C functions returning void:

FCALLSCSUBn(             Routine_name,ROUTINE_NAME,routine_name,argtype_1,...,argtype_n)
for all other C functions:
FCALLSCFUNn(routine_type,Routine_name,ROUTINE_NAME,routine_name,argtype_1,...,argtype_n)
Where: 'n' = 0->27 (easily expanded to > 27) stands for the number of arguments to the routine.
Routine_name = the C       name of the routine. [see 9. below]
ROUTINE_NAME = the FORTRAN name of the routine (IN UPPER CASE LETTERS).
routine_name = the FORTRAN name of the routine (IN lower case LETTERS).
routine_type = the type of argument returned by C functions.
             = BYTE, DOUBLE, FLOAT, INT, LOGICAL, LONG, SHORT, STRING, VOID.
               [Instead of VOID, FCALLSCSUBn is recommended.]
argtype_i    = the type of argument passed to the FORTRAN routine and must be
               consistent in the definition and prototyping of the routine
             = BYTE, DOUBLE, FLOAT, INT, LOGICAL, LONG, SHORT, STRING.
             For vectors, i.e. 1 dim. arrays use 
             = BYTEV, DOUBLEV, FLOATV, INTV, LOGICALV, LONGV, SHORTV, STRINGV.
             For vectors of vectors, 2 dim. arrays use
             = BYTEVV, DOUBLEVV, FLOATVV, INTVV, LOGICALVV, LONGVV, SHORTVV.
             For n-dim. arrays use
             = BYTEV..nV's..V, DOUBLEV..V, FLOATV..V, INTV..V, LOGICALV..V, 
               LONGV..V, SHORTV..V.
             For routines changing the values of an argument, the keyword is 
                  prepended by a 'P'.
             = PBYTE, PDOUBLE, PFLOAT, PINT, PLOGICAL, PLONG, PSHORT, 
               PSTRING, PNSTRING, PPSTRING, PSTRINGV.
             For EXTERNAL procedures passed as arguments use
             = ROUTINE.
             For exceptional arguments which require no massaging to fit the
                  argument passing mechanisms use
             = PVOID.
                The argument is cast and passed as (void *).
Notes:

  1. For FORTRAN calling C++ routines, C++ does NOT easily allow support for: STRINGV. BYTEVV, DOUBLEVV, FLOATVV, INTVV, LOGICALVV, LONGVV, SHORTVV. BYTEV..V, DOUBLEV..V, FLOATV..V, INTV..V, LOGICALV..V, LONGV..V, SHORTV..V. Though there are ways to get around this restriction, the restriction is not serious since these types are unlikely to be used as arguments for a C++ routine.

  2. FCALLSCSUB/FUNn expect that the routine to be 'wrapped' has been properly prototyped, or at least declared.

  3. cfortran.h may be expanded to handle a new argument type not already among the above.

  4. [BYTE|DOUBLE|BYTE|DOUBLE|FLOAT|INT|LOGICAL|LONG|SHORT][V|VV|VVV|...]

    cfortran.h encourages the exact specification of the type and dimension of array parameters because it allows the C compiler to detect errors in the arguments when declaring the routine using FCALLSCSUB/FUNn, assuming the routine to be 'wrapped' has been properly prototyped.

    cfortran.h does not strictly require the exact specification since the argument is merely the address of the array and is passed on to the calling routine. Any array parameter could be declared as PVOID, but this circumvents C's compiletime ability to check the correctness of arguments and is therefore discouraged.

    Passing the address of these arguments implies that PBYTEV, PFLOATV, ... , PDOUBLEVV, ... don't exist in cfortran.h, since by default the routine and the calling code share the same array, i.e. the same values at the same memory location.

    These comments do NOT apply to arrays of (P)STRINGV. For these parameters, cfortran.h passes a massaged copy of the array to the routine. When the routine returns, STRINGV ignores the copy, while PSTRINGV replaces the calling code's original array with copy, which may have been modified by the called routine.

  5. (P(N))STRING arguments have any trailing blanks removed before being passed to C, the same holds true for each element in (P)STRINGV. Space is malloc'd in all cases big enough to hold the original string (elements) as well as C's terminating '\0'. i.e. The useful size of the string (elements) is the same in both languages. P(N)STRING(V) => the string (elements) will be copied from the malloc'd space back into the FORTRAN bytes. If one of the two escape mechanisms mentioned below for PNSTRING has been used, the copying back to FORTRAN is obviously not relevant.

  6. (PN)STRING's, [NOT PSTRING's nor (P)STRINGV's,] behavior may be overridden in two cases. In both cases PNSTRING and STRING behave identically.

    1. If a (PN)STRING argument's first 4 bytes are all the NUL character, i.e. '\0\0\0\0' the NULL pointer is passed to the C routine.

    2. the NUL character, i.e. C strings' terminating '\0', the address of the string is simply passed to the C routine. i.e. The argument is treated in this case as it would be with PPSTRING, to which we refer the reader for more detail.

    Mechanism 1. overrides 2. . Therefore, to use this mechanism to pass the NULL string, "", to C, the first character of the string must obviously be the NUL character, but of the first 4 characters in the string, at least one must not be HEX-00.

    Example:

    
    C FORTRAN                                               /* C */
          character*40 str                                  #include "cfortran.h"
    C Set up a NULL as :                                    void cs(char *s) {if (s) printf("%s.\n",s);}
    C    i)  4 NUL characters.                              FCALLSCSUB1(cs,CS,cs,STRING)
    C    ii) NULL pointer.
          character*4 NULL        
          NULL = CHAR(0)//CHAR(0)//CHAR(0)//CHAR(0)
    
          data str/'just some string'/
    
    C Passing the NULL pointer to cs.
          call cs(NULL)
    C Passing a copy of 'str' to cs.
          call cs(str)
    C Passing address of 'str' to cs. Trailing blanks NOT killed.
          str(40:) = NULL
          call cs(str)
          end
    
    Strings passed from FORTRAN to C via (PN)STRING must not have undefined contents, otherwise undefined behavior will result, since one of the above two escape mechanisms may occur depending on the contents of the string.

    This is not be a problem for STRING arguments, which are read-only in the C routine and hence must have a well defined value when being passed in.

    PNSTRING arguments require special care. Even if they are write-only in the C routine, PNSTRING's above two escape mechanisms require that the value of the argument be well defined when being passed in from FORTRAN to C. Therefore, unless one or both of PNSTRING's escape mechanisms are required, PSTRING should be used instead of PNSTRING. Prior to version 2.8, PSTRING did have the above two escape mechanisms, but they were removed from PSTRING to allow strings with undefined contents to be passed in. PNSTRING behaves like the old PSTRING. [Thanks go to Paul Dubois (dubios@icf.llnl.gov) for pointing out that PSTRING must allow for strings with undefined contents to be passed in.]

    Example:

    C FORTRAN                                               /* C */
          character*10 s,sn                                 #include "cfortran.h"
                                                            void ps(char *s) {strcpy(s,"hello");}
    C Can   call ps  with undef. s.                         FCALLSCSUB1(ps,PS,ps,PSTRING)
          call ps(s)                                        FCALLSCSUB1(ps,PNS,pns,PNSTRING)
          print *,s,'=s'
                                  
    C Can't call pns with undef. s.
    C e.g. If first 4 bytes of s were
    C      "\0\0\0\0", ps would try
    C      to copy to NULL because
    C      of PNSTRING mechanism.
          sn = ""
          call pns(sn)
          print *,sn,'=sn'
                                                   
          end
    

  7. PPSTRING The address of the string argument is simply passed to the C routine. Therefore the C routine and the FORTRAN calling code share the same string at the same memory location. If the C routine modifies the string, the string will also be modified for the FORTRAN calling code. The user is responsible for negociating the differences in representation of a string in FORTRAN and in C, i.e. the differences are not automatically resolved as they are for (P(N)STRING(V). This mechanism is provided for two reasons:

    For arguments passed via PPSTRING, the argument passed may also be an array of strings.

  8. ROUTINE ANSI C requires that the type of the value returned by the routine be known, For all ROUTINE arguments passed from FORTRAN to C, the type of ROUTINE is specified by defining a cast as follows:
    #undef  ROUTINE_j
    #define ROUTINE_j   (cast)
    
    Where:
           j            [1-n], is the argument being specifying.
           (cast)       is a cast matching that of the argument expected by the C
                        function protoytpe for which a wrapper is being defined.
    
    e.g. To create a FORTRAN wrapper for qsort(3C):
    #undef  ROUTINE_4
    #define ROUTINE_4 (int (*)(void *,void *))
    FCALLSCSUB4(qsort,FQSORT,fqsort,PVOID,INT,INT,ROUTINE)
    
    In order to maintain backward compatibility, cfortran.h defines a generic cast for ROUTINE_1, ROUTINE_2, ..., ROUTINE_27. The user's definition is therefore strictly required only for DEC C, which at the moment is the only compiler which insists on the correct cast for pointers to functions.

    When using the ROUTINE argument inside some FORTRAN code:

    ONLY PowerStationFortran:

    This FORTRAN provides no easy way to pass a FORTRAN routine as an argument to a C routine. The problem arises because in FORTRAN the stack is cleared by the called routine, while in C/C++ it is cleared by the caller. The C/C++ stack clearing behavior can be changed to that of FORTRAN by using stdcall__ in the function prototype. The stdcall__ cannot be applied in this case since the called C routine expects the ROUTINE parameter to be a C routine and does not know that it should apply stdcall__. In principle the cfortran.h generated FORTRAN callable wrapper for the called C routine should be able to massage the ROUTINE argument such that stdcall__ is performed, but it is not yet known how this could be easily done.

  9. The following instructions are not required for VAX/VMS:

    (P)STRINGV information [NOT required for VAX VMS]: cfortran.h cannot convert the FORTRAN vector of STRINGS to the required C vector of STRINGS without explicitly knowing the number of elements in the vector. The application must do one of the following for each (P)STRINGV argument in a routine before that routine's FCALLSCFUNn/SUBn is called:

    #define routine_name_STRV_Ai NUM_ELEMS(j)
     or
    #define routine_name_STRV_Ai NUM_ELEM_ARG(k)
     or
    #define routine_name_STRV_Ai TERM_CHARS(l,m)
    
    where:
           routine_name     is as above.
           i [i=1->n.]      specifies the argument number of a STRING VECTOR.
           j                would specify a fixed number of elements. 
           k [k=1->n. k!=i] would specify an integer argument which specifies the
                            number of elements.
           l [char]         the terminating character at the beginning of an
                            element, indicating to cfortran.h that the preceding
                            elements in the vector are the valid ones.
           m [m=1-...]      the number of terminating characters required to appear
                            at the beginning of the terminating string element.
                            The terminating element is NOT passed on to 
                            the C routine.
    
    e.g.      #define ce_STRV_A1 TERM_CHARS(' ',2)
              FCALLSCSUB1(ce,CE,ce,STRINGV)
    
    cfortran.h will pass on all elements, in the 1st and only argument to the C routine ce, of the STRING VECTOR until, but not including, the first string element beginning with 2 blank, ' ', characters.

  10. Instructions required only for FORTRAN compilers which generate routine names which are undistinguishable from c routine names:
    i.e.
            VAX VMS
            AbsoftUNIXFortran (AbsoftProFortran ok, since it uses Uppercase names.)
            HP9000      if not using the +ppu      option of f77
            IBM RS/6000 if not using the -qextname option of xlf
    
    Call them the same_namespace compilers.

    FCALLSCSUBn(...) and FCALLSCFUNn(...), when compiled, are expanded into 'wrapper' functions, so called because they wrap around the original C functions and interface the format of the original C functions' arguments and return values with the format of the FORTRAN call.

    Ideally one wants to be able to call the C routine from FORTRAN using the same name as the original C name. This is not a problem for FORTRAN compilers which append an underscore, '_', to the names of routines, since the original C routine has the name 'name', and the FORTRAN wrapper is called 'name_'. Similarly, if the FORTRAN compiler generates upper case names for routines, the original C routine 'name' can have a wrapper called 'NAME', [Assuming the C routine name is not in upper case.] For these compilers, e.g. Mips, CRAY, IBM RS/6000 'xlf -qextname', HP-UX 'f77 +ppu', the naming of the wrappers is done automatically.

    For same_namespace compilers things are not as simple, but cfortran.h tries to provide tools and guidelines to minimize the costs involved in meeting their constraints. The following two options can provide same_namespace compilers with distinct names for the wrapper and the original C function.

    These compilers are flagged by cfortran.h with the CF_SAME_NAMESPACE constant, so that the change in the C name occurs only when required.

    For the remainder of the discussion, routine names generated by FORTRAN compilers are referred to in lower case, these names should be read as upper case for the appropriate compilers.

    HP9000 (When f77 +ppu is not used.)

    f77 has a -U option which forces uppercase external names to be generated. Unfortunately, cc does not handle recursive macros. Hence, if one wished to use -U for separate C and FORTRAN namespaces, one would have to adopt a different convention of naming the macros which allow C to call FORTRAN subroutines. (Functions are not a problem.) The macros are currently the uppercase of the original FORTRAN name, and would have to be changed to lower case or mixed case, or to a different name. (Lower case would of course cause conflicts on many other machines.) Therefore, it is suggested that f77 -U not be used, and instead that Option a) or Option b) outlined below be used.

    VAX/VMS:

    For the name used by FORTRAN in calling a C routine to be the same as that of the C routine, the source code of the C routine is required. A preprocessor directive can then force the C compiler to generate a different name for the C routine. e.g.

                        #if defined(vms)
                        #define name name_
                        #endif
                        void name() {printf("name: was called.\n");}
                        FCALLSCSUB0(name,NAME,name)
    
    In the above, the C compiler generates the original routine with the name 'name_' and a wrapper called 'NAME'. This assumes that the name of the routine, as seen by the C programmer, is not in upper case. The VAX VMS linker is not case sensitive, allowing cfortran.h to export the upper case name as the wrapper, which then doesn't conflict with the routine name in C. Since the IBM, HP and AbsoftUNIXFortran platforms have case sensitive linkers this technique is not available to them.

    The above technique is required even if the C name is in mixed case, see Option a) for the other compilers, but is obviously not required when Option b) is used.

    Option a) Mixed Case names for the C routines to be called by FORTRAN.

    If the original C routines have mixed case names, there are no name space conflicts.

    Nevertheless for VAX/VMS, the technique outlined above must also be used.

    Option b) Modifying the names of C routines when used by FORTRAN: The more robust naming mechanism, which guarantees portability to all machines, 'renames' C routines when called by FORTRAN. Indeed, one must change the names on same_namespace compilers when FORTRAN calls C routines for which the source is unavailable. [Even when the source is available, renaming may be preferable to Option a) for large libraries of C routines.]

    Obviously, if done for a single type of machine, it must be done for all machines since the names of routines used in FORTRAN code cannot be easily redefined for different machines.

    The simplest way to achieve this end is to do explicitly give the modified FORTRAN name in the FCALLSCSUBn(...) and FCALLSCFUNn(...) declarations. e.g.

    FCALLSCSUB0(name,CFNAME,cfname)
    
    This allows FORTRAN to call the C routine 'name' as 'cfname'. Any name can of course be used for a given routine when it is called from FORTRAN, although this is discouraged due to the confusion it is sure to cause. e.g. Bizarre, but valid and allowing C's 'call_back' routine to be called from FORTRAN as 'abcd':
    FCALLSCSUB0(call_back,ABCD,abcd)
    
    cfortran.h also provides preprocessor directives for a systematic 'renaming' of the C routines when they are called from FORTRAN. This is done by redefining the fcallsc macro before the FCALLSCSUB/FUN/n declarations as follows:
    #undef  fcallsc
    #define fcallsc(UN,LN) preface_fcallsc(CF,cf,UN,LN)
    
    FCALLSCSUB0(hello,HELLO,hello)
    
    Will cause C's routine 'hello' to be known in FORTRAN as 'cfhello'. Similarly all subsequent FCALLSCSUB/FUN/n declarations will generate wrappers to allow FORTRAN to call C with the C routine's name prefaced by 'cf'. The following has the same effect, with subsequent FCALLSCSUB/FUN/n's appending the modifier to the original C routines name.
    #undef  fcallsc
    #define fcallsc(UN,LN) append_fcallsc(Y,y,UN,LN)
    
    FCALLSCSUB0(Xroutine,ROUTINE,routine)
    
    Hence, C's Xroutine is called from FORTRAN as:
           CALL XROUTINEY()
    
    The original behavior of FCALLSCSUB/FUN/n, where FORTRAN routine names are left identical to those of C, is returned using:
    #undef  fcallsc
    #define fcallsc(UN,LN) orig_fcallsc(UN,LN)
    
    In C, when passing a C routine, i.e. its wrapper, as an argument to a FORTRAN routine, the FORTRAN name declared is used and the correct fcallsc must be in effect. E.g. Passing 'name' and 'routine' of the above examples to the FORTRAN routines, FT1 and FT2, respectively:
    /* This might not be needed if fcallsc is already orig_fcallsc. */
    #undef  fcallsc
    #define fcallsc(UN,LN) orig_fcallsc(UN,LN)
    FT1(C_FUNCTION(CFNAME,cfname));
    
    #undef  fcallsc
    #define fcallsc(UN,LN) append_fcallsc(Y,y,UN,LN)
    FT1(C_FUNCTION(XROUTINE,xroutine));
    
    If the names of C routines are modified when used by FORTRAN, fcallsc would usually be defined once in a header_file.h for the application. This definition would then be used and be valid for the entire application and fcallsc would at no point need to be redefined.

    Once again: the definitions, instructions, declarations and difficulties described here, note 9. OF II ii), apply only for,

                   VAX VMS
                   IBM RS/6000 WITHOUT THE -qextname OPTION FOR xlf, OR
                   HP-UX       WITHOUT THE +ppu      OPTION FOR f77
                   AbsoftUNIXFortran
    
    and apply only when creating wrappers which enable FORTRAN to call c routines.

iii) Using C to manipulate FORTRAN COMMON BLOCKS:

FORTRAN common blocks are set up with the following three constructs:

  1. #define Common_block_name COMMON_BLOCK(COMMON_BLOCK_NAME,common_block_name)
    
    Common_block_name is in UPPER CASE. 
    COMMON_BLOCK_NAME is in UPPER CASE.
    common_block_name is in lower case. 
    
    [Common_block_name actually follows the same 'rules' as Routine_name in Note 2. of II i).] This construct exists to ensure that C code accessing the common block is machine independent.

  2. COMMON_BLOCK_DEF(TYPEDEF_OF_STRUCT, Common_block_name);
    
    where
    typedef { ... } TYPEDEF_OF_STRUCT;
    
    declares the structure which maps on to the common block. The #define of Common_block_name must come before the use of COMMON_BLOCK_DEF.

  3. In exactly one of the C source files, storage should be set aside for the common block with the definition:
    TYPEDEF_OF_STRUCT  Common_block_name;
    
    The above definition may have to be omitted on some machines for a common block which is initialized by FORTRAN BLOCK DATA or is declared with a smaller size in the C routines than in the FORTRAN routines.

    The rules for common blocks are not well defined when linking/loading a mixture of C and FORTRAN, but the following information may help resolve problems.

    From the 2nd or ANSI ed. of K&R C, p.31, last paragraph:

    i) An external variable must be defined, exactly once, outside of any function; this sets aside storage for it.

    ii) The variable must also be declared in each function that wants to access it; ... The declaration ... may be implicit from context.

    In FORTRAN, every routine says 'common /bar/ foo', i.e. part ii) of the above, but there's no part i) requirement. cc/ld on some machines don't require i) either. Therefore, when handling FORTRAN, and sometimes C, the loader/linker must automagically set aside storage for common blocks.

    Some loaders, including at least one for the CRAY, turn off the 'automagically set aside storage' capability for FORTRAN common blocks, if any C object declares that common block. Therefore, C code should define, i.e. set aside storage, for the the common block as shown above. e.g.

    C Fortran
          common /fcb/  v,w,x
          character *(13) v, w(4), x(3,2)
    
    /* C */
    typedef struct { char v[13],w[4][13],x[2][3][13]; } FCB_DEF;
    #define Fcb COMMON_BLOCK(FCB,fcb)
    COMMON_BLOCK_DEF(FCB_DEF,Fcb);
    FCB_DEF Fcb;      /* Definition, which sets aside storage for Fcb, */
                      /* may appear in at most one C source file.      */
    
    C programs can place a string (or a multidimensional array of strings) into a FORTRAN common block using the following call:
    C2FCBSTR( CSTR, FSTR,DIMENSIONS);
    
    where:
    CSTR is a pointer to the first element of C's copy of the string (array). The C code must use a duplicate of, not the original, common block string, because the FORTRAN common block does not allocate space for C strings' terminating '\0'.
    FSTR is a pointer to the first element of the string (array) in the common block.
    DIMENSIONS is the number of dimensions of string array. e.g.
              char a[10]      has DIMENSIONS=0.
              char aa[10][17] has DIMENSIONS=1.
              etc...
    
    C2FCBSTR will copy the string (array) from CSTR to FSTR, padding with blanks, ' ', the trailing characters as required. C2FCBSTR uses DIMENSIONS and FSTR to determine the lengths of the individual string elements and the total number of elements in the string array.

    Note that:

    FCB2CSTR( FSTR, CSTR,DIMENSIONS) is the inverse of C2FCBSTR, and shares the same arguments and caveats. FCB2CSTR copies each string element of FSTR to CSTR, minus FORTRAN strings' trailing blanks.

    cfortran.h users are strongly urged to examine the common block examples in cfortest.c and cfortex.f. The use of strings in common blocks is demonstrated, along with a suggested way for C to imitate FORTRAN EQUIVALENCE'd variables.

**** USERS OF CFORTRAN.H NEED READ NO FURTHER ****

III) Some Musings

cfortran.h is simple enough to be used by the most basic of applications, i.e. making a single C/FORTRAN routine available to the FORTRAN/C programmers. Yet cfortran.h is powerful enough to easily make entire C/FORTRAN libraries available to FORTRAN/C programmers.

cfortran.h is the ideal tool for FORTRAN libraries which are being (re)written in C, but are to (continue to) support FORTRAN users. It allows the routines to be written in 'natural C', without having to consider the FORTRAN argument passing mechanisms of any machine. It also allows C code accessing these rewritten routines, to use the C entry point. Without cfortran.h, one risks the perverse practice of C code calling a C function using FORTRAN argument passing mechanisms!

Perhaps the philosophy and mechanisms of cfortran.h could be used and extended to create other language bridges such as ADAFORTRAN, CPASCAL, COCCAM, etc.

The code generation machinery inside cfortran.h, i.e. the global structure is quite good, being clean and workable as seen by its ability to meet the needs and constraints of many different compilers. Though the individual instructions of the A..., C..., T..., R... and K... tables deserve to be cleaned up.

IV) Getting Serious with cfortran.h

cfortran.h is set up to be as simple as possible for the casual user. While this ease of use will always be present, 'hooks', i.e. preprocessor directives, are required in cfortran.h so that some of the following 'inefficiencies' can be eliminated if they cause difficulties: With a similar goal in mind, cfortran.h defines 100's of preprocessor directives. There is always the potential that these will clash with other tags in the users code, so final_applications.h, which don't require cfortran.h, also provide the solution.

In the same vein, routines with more than 14 arguments can not be interfaced by cfortran.h with compilers which limit C macros to 31 arguments. To resolve this difficulty, final_application.h's can be created on a compiler without this limitation.

Therefore, new machinery is required to do:

application.h + cfortran.h => final_application.h
The following example may help clarify the means and ends:

If the following definition of the HBOOK1 routine, the /*commented_out_part*/, is passed through the preprocessor [perhaps #undefing and #defining preprocessor constants if creating an application.h for compiler other than that of the preprocessor being used, e.g. cpp -Umips -DCRAY ... ] :

#include "cfortran.h"
PROTOCCALLSFSUB6(HBOOK1,hbook1,INT,STRING,INT,FLOAT,FLOAT,FLOAT)
/*#define HBOOK1(ID,CHTITLE,NX,XMI,XMA,VMX)                 \*/
     CCALLSFSUB6(HBOOK1,hbook1,INT,STRING,INT,FLOAT,FLOAT,FLOAT, \
                 ID,CHTITLE,NX,XMI,XMA,VMX) 
A function prototype is produced by the PROTOCCALLSFSUB6(...). Interface code is produced, based on the 'variables', ID,CHTITLE,NX,XMI,XMA,VMX which will correctly massage a HBOOK1 call. Therefore, adding the #define line:
'prototype code'
#define HBOOK1(ID,CHTITLE,NX,XMI,XMA,VMX)                 \
 'interface code'(ID,CHTITLE,NX,XMI,XMA,VMX)
which is placed into final_application.h.

The only known limitation of the above method does not allow the 'variable' names to include B1,B2,...,B9,BA,BB,... Obviously the machinery to automatically generate final_applications.h from cfortran.h and applications.h needs more than just some preprocessor directives, but a fairly simple unix shell script should be sufficient. Any takers?

V) Machine Dependencies of cfortran.h

Porting cfortran.h applications, e.g. the hbook.h and cstring.c mentioned above, to other machines is trivial since they are machine independent. Porting cfortran.h requires a solid knowledge of the new machines C preprocessor, and its FORTRAN argument passing mechanisms. Logically cfortran.h exists as two halves, a "C CALLS FORTRAN" and a "FORTRAN CALLS C" utility. In some cases it may be perfectly reasonable to port only 'one half' of cfortran.h onto a new system.

The lucky programmer porting cfortran.h to a new machine, must discover the FORTRAN argument passing mechanisms. A safe starting point is to assume that variables and arrays are simply passed by reference, but nothing is guaranteed. Strings, and n-dimensional arrays of strings are a different story. It is doubtful that any systems do it quite like VAX VMS does it, so that a UNIX or f2c versions may provide an easier starting point.

cfortran.h uses and abuses the preprocessor's ## operator. Although the ## operator does not exist in many compilers, many kludges do. cfortran.h uses /**/ with no space allowed between the slashes, '/' , and the macros or tags to be concatenated. e.g.

#define concat(a,b) a/**/b   /* works*/
main()
{
  concat(pri,ntf)("hello");           /* e.g. */
}
N.B. On some compilers without ##, /**/ may also not work. The author may be able to offer alternate kludges.

VI) Bugs in vendors C compilers and other curiosities

  1. ULTRIX xxxxxx 4.3 1 RISC
    Condolences to long suffering ultrix users! DEC supplies a working C front end for alpha/OSF, but not for ultrix.

    From K&R ANSI C p. 231:

       ultrix> cat cat.c
       #define cat(x, y) x ## y
       #define xcat(x,y) cat(x,y)
       cat(cat(1,2),3)
       xcat(xcat(1,2),3)
       ultrix> cc -E cat.c
       123                  <---- Should be: cat(1,2)3
       123                  <---- Correct.
       ultrix> 
    
    The problem for cfortran.h, preventing use of -std and -std1:
       ultrix> cat c.c
       #define cat(x, y) x ## y
       #define xcat(x,y) cat(x,y)
       #define AB(X) X+X
       #define C(E,F,G)  cat(E,F)(G)
       #define X(E,F,G) xcat(E,F)(G)
       C(A,B,2)
       X(A,B,2)
       ultrix> cc -std1 -E c.c
       2+2  
       AB  (2)              <---- ?????????????
       ultrix>
       ultrix> cc -std0 -E c.c
       2+2  
       AB(2)                <---- ?????????????
       ultrix>
    
    Due to further ultrix preprocessor problems, for all definitions of definitions with arguments, cfortran.h >= 3.0 includes the arguments and recommends the same, even though it is not required by ANSI C. e.g. Users are advised to do
       #define fcallsc(UN,LN) orig_fcallsc(UN,LN)
    
    instead of
       #define fcallsc        orig_fcallsc
    
    since ultrix fails to properly preprocess the latter example. CRAY used to (still does?) occasionally trip up on this problem.

  2. ConvexOS convex C210 11.0 convex

    In a program with a C main, output to LUN=6=* from FORTRAN goes into $pwd/fort.6 instead of stdout. Presumably, a magic incantation can be called from the C main in order to properly initialize the FORTRAN I/O.

  3. SunOS 5.3 Generic_101318-69 sun4m sparc

    The default data and code alignments produced by cc, gcc and f77 are compatible. If deviating from the defaults, consistent alignment options must be used across all objects compiled by cc and f77. [Does gcc provide such options?]

  4. SunOS 5.3 Generic_101318-69 sun4m sparc with cc: SC3.0.1 13 Jul 1994 or equivalently ULTRIX 4.4 0 RISC using cc -oldc are K&R C preprocessors that suffer from infinite loop macros, e.g.
      zedy03> cat src.c
      #include "cfortran.h"
                                PROTOCCALLSFFUN1(INT,FREV,frev, INTV)
      #define FREV(A1)               CCALLSFFUN1(    FREV,frev, INTV, A1)
      /* To avoid the problem, deletete these ---^^^^--- spaces.    */
      main() { static int a[] = {1,2}; FREV(a); return EXIT_SUCCESS; }
    
      zedy03> cc -c -Xs -v -DMAX_PREPRO_ARGS=31 -D__CF__KnR src.c
      "src.c", line 4: FREV: actuals too long
      "src.c", line 4: FREV: actuals too long
      .... 3427 more lines of the same message
      "src.c", line 4: FREV: actuals too long
      cc : Fatal error in /usr/ccs/lib/cpp
      Segmentation fault (core dumped) 
    

  5. Older sun C compilers

    To link to f77 objects, older sun C compilers require the math.h macros:

    #define RETURNFLOAT(x)   { union {double _d; float _f; } _kluge; \
                               _kluge._f = (x); return _kluge._d;   }
    #define ASSIGNFLOAT(x,y) { union {double _d; float _f; } _kluge; \
                               _kluge._d = (y); x = _kluge._f;      }
    
    Unfortunately, in at least some copies of the sun math.h, the semi-colon for 'float _f;' is left out, leading to compiler warnings.

    The solution is to correct math.h, or to change cfortran.h to #define RETURNFLOAT(x) and ASSIGNFLOAT(x,y) instead of including math.h.

  6. gcc version 2.6.3 and probably all other versions as well:

    Unlike all other C compilers supported by cfortran.h, 'gcc -traditional' promotes to double all functions returning float as demonstrated bu the following example.

    /* m.c */
    #include 
    int main() { FLOAT_FUNCTION d(); float f; f = d(); printf("%f\n",f); return 0; }
    
    /* d.c */
    float d() { return -123.124; }
    
    burow[29] gcc -c -traditional d.c
    burow[30] gcc -DFLOAT_FUNCTION=float m.c d.o && a.out
    0.000000
    burow[31] gcc -DFLOAT_FUNCTION=double m.c d.o && a.out
    -123.124001
    burow[32]
    
    Thus, 'gcc -traditional' is not supported by cfortran.h. Support would require the same RETURNFLOAT, etc. macro machinery present in old sun math.h, before sun gave up the same promotion.

  7. CRAY

    At least some versions of the t3e and t3d C preprocessor are broken in the fashion described below. At least some versions of the t90 C preprocessor do not have this problem.

    On the CRAY, all FORTRAN names are converted to uppercase. Generally the uppercase name is also used for the macro interface created by cfortran.h.

    For example, in the following interface, EASY is both the name of the macro in the original C code and EASY is the name of the resulting function to be called.

    #define EASY(A,B)      CCALLSFSUB2(EASY,easy, PINT, INTV, A, B)
    
    The fact that a macro called EASY() expands to a function called EASY() is not a problem for a working C preprocessor. From Kernighan and Ritchie, 2nd edition, p.230:

    In both kinds of macro, the replacement token sequence is repeatedly rescanned for more identifiers. However, once a given identifier has been replaced in a given expansion, it is not replaced if it turns up again during rescanning; instead it is left unchanged.

    Unfortunately, some CRAY preprocessors are broken and don't obey the above rule. A work-around is for the user to NOT use the uppercase name of the name of the macro interface provided by cfortran.h. For example:

    #define Easy(A,B)      CCALLSFSUB2(EASY,easy, PINT, INTV, A, B)
    
    Luckily, the above work-around is not required since the following work-around within cfortran.h also circumvents the bug:
       /* (UN), not UN, is required in order to get around  CRAY preprocessor bug.*/
       #define CFC_(UN,LN)            (UN)      /* Uppercase FORTRAN symbols.     */
    

    Aside: The Visual C++ compiler is happy with UN, but barfs on (UN), so either (UN) causes nonstandard C/C++ or Visual C++ is broken.

VII) History and Acknowledgements

1.0
  • Supports VAX VMS using C 3.1 and FORTRAN 5.4.
Oct. '90.
1.0
  • Supports Silicon Graphics w. Mips Computer 2.0 f77 and cc. [Port of C calls FORTRAN half only.]
Feb. '91.
1.1
  • Supports Mips Computer System 2.0 f77 and cc. [Runs on at least: Silicon Graphics IRIX 3.3.1 DECstations with Ultrix V4.1]
Mar. '91.
1.2
  • Internals made simpler, smaller, faster, stronger.
  • Mips version works on IBM RS/6000, this is now called the unix version.
May '91.
1.3
  • UNIX and VAX VMS versions are merged into a single cfortran.h.
  • C can help manipulate (arrays of) strings in FORTRAN common blocks.
  • Dimensions of string arrays arguments can be explicit.
  • Supports Apollo DomainOS 10.2 (sys5.3) with f77 10.7 and cc 6.7.
July '91.
2.0
  • Improved code generation machinery creates K&R or ANSI C.
  • Supports Sun, CRAY. f2c with vcc on VAX Ultrix.
  • cfortran.h macros now require routine and COMMON block names in both upper and lower case. No changes required to applications though.
  • PROTOCCALLSFSUBn is eliminated, with no loss to cfortran.h performance.
  • Improved tools and guidelines for naming C routines called by FORTRAN.
Aug. '91.
2.1
  • LOGICAL correctly supported across all machines.
  • Improved support for DOUBLE PRECISION on the CRAY.
  • HP9000 fully supported.
  • VAX Ultrix cc or gcc with f77 now supported.
Oct. '91.
2.2
  • SHORT, i.e. INTEGER*2, and BYTE now supported.
  • LOGICAL_STRICT introduced. More compact and robust internal tables.
  • typeV and typeVV for type = BYTE, DOUBLE, FLOAT, INT, LOGICAL, LONG,SHORT.
  • FORTRAN passing strings and NULL pointer to C routines improved.
Dec. '91.
2.3
  • Extraneous arguments removed from many internal tables.
  • Introduce pseudo argument type SIMPLE for user defined types.
  • LynxOS using f2c supported. (Tested with LynxOS 2.0 386/AT.)
May '92.
2.4
  • Separation of internal C and FORTRAN compilation directives.
  • f2c and NAG f90 supported on all machines.
Oct. '92.
2.5
  • Minor mod.s to source and/or doc for HP9000, f2c, and NAG f90.
Nov. '92.
2.6
  • Support external procedures as arguments with type ROUTINE.
Dec. '92.
2.7
  • Support Alpha VMS. Support HP9000 f77 +ppu
  • Support arrays with up to 7 dimensions.
  • Minor mod. of FORTRAN NULL to C via (P)STRING.
  • Specify the type of ROUTINE passed from FORTRAN to C [ANSI C requirement.]
  • Macros never receive a null parameter [RS/6000 requirement.]
Jan. '93.
2.8
  • PSTRING for FORTRAN calls C no longer provides escape to pass NULL pointer nor to pass address of original string. PNSTRING introduced with old PSTRING's behavior. PPSTRING introduced to always pass original address of string.
  • Support Alpha/OSF.
  • Document that common blocks used in C should be declared AND defined.
April'93.
3.0
  • Automagic handling of ANSI ## versus K&R /**/ preprocessor op.
  • Less chance of name space collisions between cfortran.h and other codes.
  • SIMPLE macros, supporting user defined types, have changed names.
March'95.
3.1
  • Internal macro name _INT not used. Conflicted with IRIX 5.3.
  • SunOS, all versions, should work out of the box.
  • ZTRINGV_ARGS|F(k) may no longer point to a PDOUBLE or PFLOAT argument.
  • ConvexOS 11.0 supported.
May '95.
3.2
  • __hpux no longer needs to be restricted to MAX_PREPRO_ARGS=31.
  • PSTRING bug fixed.
  • ZTRINGV_ARGS|F(k) may not point to a PBYTE,PINT,PLONG or PSHORT argument.
  • (P)ZTRINGV machinery improved. Should lead to fewer compiler warnings. (P)ZTRINGV no longer limits recursion or the nesting of routines.
  • SIMPLE macros, supporting user defined types, have changed slightly.
Oct. '95.
3.3
  • Supports PowerStation FORTRAN with Visual C++.
  • g77 should work using f2cFortran, though no changes made for it.
  • (PROTO)CCALLSFFUN10 extended to (PROTO)CCALLSFFUN14.
  • FCALLSCFUN10 and SUB10 extended to FCALLSCFUN14 and SUB14.
Nov. '95.
3.4
  • C++ supported, but it required the reintroduction of PROTOCCALLSFSUBn for users.
  • HP-UX f77 +800 supported.
Dec. '95.
3.5
  • Absoft UNIX FORTRAN supported.
Sept.'96.
3.6
  • Minor corrections to cfortran.doc.
  • Fixed bug for 15th argument. [Thanks to Tom Epperly at Aspen Tech.]
  • For AbsoftUNIXFortran, obey default of prepending _C to COMMON BLOCK name.
  • FORTRAN calling C with ROUTINE argument fixed and cleaned up.
Oct. '96.
3.7
  • Circumvent IBM and HP "null argument" preprocessor warning.
Oct. '96
3.8
  • (P)STRINGV and (P)ZTRINGV can pass a 1- or 2-dim. char array. (P)ZTRINGV thus effectively also provides (P)ZTRING.
  • (P)ZTRINGV accepts a (char *) pointer.
Feb. '97
3.9
  • Bug fixed for *VVVVV.
  • f2c: Work-around for strange underscore-dependent naming feature.
  • NEC SX-4 supported.
  • CRAY: LOGICAL conversion uses _btol and _ltob from CRAY's fortran.h.
  • CRAY: Avoid bug of some versions of the C preprocessor.
  • CRAY T3E: FORTRAN_REAL introduced.
May '97
4.0
  • new/delete now used for C++. malloc/free still used for C.
  • FALSE no longer is defined by cfortran.h .
  • Absoft Pro FORTRAN for MacOS supported.
Jan. '98
4.1
  • COMMA and COLON no longer are defined by cfortran.h .
  • Bug fixed when 10th arg. or beyond is a string. [Rob Lucchesi of NASA-Goddard pointed out this bug.]
  • CCALLSFSUB/FUN extended from 14 to 27 arguments.
  • Workaround SunOS CC 4.2 cast bug. [Thanks to Savrak SAR of CERN.]
April'98
4.2
  • Portland Group needs -DpgiFortran . [Thank George Lai of NASA.]
June '98
4.3
  • (PROTO)CCALLSFSUB extended from 20 to 27 arguments.
July '98

['Support' implies these and more recent releases of the respective OS/compilers/linkers can be used with cfortran.h. Earlier releases may also work.]

Acknowledgements
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                                              Burkhard Burow 
                                              burow@desy.de
P.S. Your comments and questions are welcomed and usually promptly answered.
VAX VMS and Ultrix, Alpha, OSF, Silicon Graphics (SGI), DECstation, Mips RISC, Sun, CRAY, Convex, IBM RS/6000, Apollo DomainOS, HP, LynxOS, f2c, NAG, Absoft, NEC SX-4, PowerStation and Visual C++ are registered trademarks of their respective owners.