{"slug": "pass-a-scalar-actual-argument-into-an-array-dummy-argument", "title": "Pass a scalar actual argument into an array dummy argument", "summary": "A developer migrated over a dozen Fortran procedures to new modules with generic interfaces, a task that would have been a large effort but took only a few days with the help of AI coding agents. The developer initially applied a compiler option before deciding the generic interface was worth the effort, saying the process allowed them to find and fix a lot of very old bugs.", "body_md": "Can you clarify? Don’t all language changes take some time before they are available and useful? Is this one particularly hard?\n\nUnfortunately I do have over a dozen such procedures for other purposes (reading other data formats, writing output, applying random perturbations to variables, etc.). This would potentially be a large effort, but thankfully with the help of AI coding agents it only took me a few days to migrate them all the new modules and implement generic interfaces.\n\nAt first I applied the compiler option, but actually found it was worth the effort to make the generic interface, because in the process it allowed me to find and fix a lot of very old bugs.", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/pass-a-scalar-actual-argument-into-an-array-dummy-argument", "canonical_source": "https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/t/pass-a-scalar-actual-argument-into-an-array-dummy-argument/11100#post_16", "published_at": "2026-09-15 16:44:47+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-09-15 16:51:40.498889+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["ai-agents", "ai-tools", "developer-tools"], "entities": ["Fortran"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/pass-a-scalar-actual-argument-into-an-array-dummy-argument", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/pass-a-scalar-actual-argument-into-an-array-dummy-argument.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/pass-a-scalar-actual-argument-into-an-array-dummy-argument.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/pass-a-scalar-actual-argument-into-an-array-dummy-argument.jsonld"}}