type aliasing

[larson__michael]

I can't seem to find an answer on the web for this..

Is there a way to alias a type like in c without creating a derived type?

In C

typedef float Vec4[4];

Now Vec4 is aliased to an array of 4 floats

What is it in Fortran? (without using a derived type)

As always thanks ahead of time.

[Steve_Lionel · Accepted solution]

Fortran does not have type aliasing. There has been some discussion of it at the standards committee, but not everyone likes the idea. 

[jimdempseyatthecove]

Steve,

A suggestion you may bring up at the next standards committee that is but one way to provide for handling his is to suggest an anonymous user defined type.

************** for anyone reading this, the following is NOT part of the Fortran language **********

type Vec4
   real :: (4) ! note lack of member variable name
end type Vec4
...
type(Vec4) :: fido
...
fido = [1.0,2.0,3.0,4.0]
...
do I=1,4
    fido(I) = I
end do

Jim Dempsey