In Fortran, you can pass a function/subroutine A as an argument to another function/subroutine B, but can you store A for later retrieval and use?
for example, this is allowed in C
int foo(float, char, char) { /*whatever*/};
int (*pointerToFunction)(float, char, char);
pointerToFunction = foo;
In Fortran you can pass a subroutine as an argument
subroutine foo
! whatever
end subroutine foo
subroutine bar(func)
call func
end subroutine bar
program x
call bar(foo)
end program
but how can you store the address of foo in a similar way to C ?
Starting from so-called "Fortran 2003" (ISO/IEC 1539-2004) procedure pointers is a part of the Fortran language. It's definitely of the major new features of Fortran language.
Usage example from Fortran Wiki.
Stefano, you mentioned strategy design pattern. In Fortran 2003 you can use pure OOP way to implement it (without procedure pointers). Offhand example:
strategies.f90
module strategies
implicit none
private
public :: strategies_transportation_strategy, &
strategies_by_taxi_strategy, &
strategies_by_bus_strategy
type, abstract :: strategies_transportation_strategy
contains
procedure(transportation_strategy_go), deferred :: go
end type strategies_transportation_strategy
type, extends(strategies_transportation_strategy) :: strategies_by_taxi_strategy
contains
procedure :: go => strategies_by_taxi_strategy_go
end type strategies_by_taxi_strategy
type, extends(strategies_transportation_strategy) :: strategies_by_bus_strategy
contains
procedure :: go => strategies_by_bus_strategy_go
end type strategies_by_bus_strategy
abstract interface
subroutine transportation_strategy_go(this)
import strategies_transportation_strategy
class(strategies_transportation_strategy), intent(in) :: this
end subroutine transportation_strategy_go
end interface
contains
subroutine strategies_by_taxi_strategy_go(this)
class(strategies_by_taxi_strategy), intent(in) :: this
print *, "We are using taxi."
end subroutine strategies_by_taxi_strategy_go
subroutine strategies_by_bus_strategy_go(this)
class(strategies_by_bus_strategy), intent(in) :: this
print *, "We are using public transport."
end subroutine strategies_by_bus_strategy_go
end module strategies
vehicles.f90
module vehicles
use strategies
implicit none
private
public :: vehicles_vehicle, &
vehicles_taxi, &
vehicles_bus
type, abstract :: vehicles_vehicle
private
class(strategies_transportation_strategy), allocatable :: transportation_strategy
contains
procedure :: set_transportation_strategy => vehicle_set_transportation_strategy
procedure :: go => vehicle_go
end type vehicles_vehicle
type, extends(vehicles_vehicle) :: vehicles_taxi
contains
procedure :: init => taxi_init
end type vehicles_taxi
type, extends(vehicles_vehicle) :: vehicles_bus
contains
procedure :: init => bus_init
end type vehicles_bus
contains
subroutine vehicle_go(this)
class(vehicles_vehicle), intent(in) :: this
call this%transportation_strategy%go()
end subroutine vehicle_go
subroutine vehicle_set_transportation_strategy(this, new_transportation_strategy)
class(vehicles_vehicle), intent(inout) :: this
class(strategies_transportation_strategy), intent(in) :: new_transportation_strategy
if (allocated(this%transportation_strategy)) then
deallocate (this%transportation_strategy)
end if
allocate (this%transportation_strategy, source=new_transportation_strategy)
end subroutine vehicle_set_transportation_strategy
subroutine taxi_init(this)
class(vehicles_taxi), intent(out) :: this
type(strategies_by_taxi_strategy) :: by_taxi_strategy
call this%set_transportation_strategy(by_taxi_strategy)
end subroutine taxi_init
subroutine bus_init(this)
class(vehicles_bus), intent(out) :: this
type(strategies_by_bus_strategy) :: by_bus_strategy
call this%set_transportation_strategy(by_bus_strategy)
end subroutine bus_init
end module vehicles
main.f90
program main
use vehicles
implicit none
type(vehicles_taxi) :: taxi
type(vehicles_bus) :: bus
call taxi%init()
call bus%init()
call taxi%go()
call bus%go()
end program main
At least works using gfortran 4.6 (20100925).