Except that LOC doesn't take an offset and pointer arithmetic in fortran isn't guranteed to be safe. No practitioner that I ever worked with ever used them besides. I mean you could have simply argued that malloc existed.

Anyways, from the original guide of fortran (maybe I am mischaracterizing their rationale, but from the horse's mouth):

> However an assumed-size array declaration has been used in the software, in order to overcome some limitations in the Fortran 77 standard. [LAPACK Users' Guide Third Edition]

It doesn't matter what the real reason is. The interface to matrix solving algorithms is archaic feeling:

    DGTTRF( N, DL, D, DU, DU2, IPIV, INFO )
    DGTTRS( TRANS, N, NRHS, DL, D, DU, DU2, IPIV, B, LDB, INFO )

Yes, I understand the purpose of every argument, I even understand the weird naming convention. Everything about this feels old and a newer language (such as a newer fortran) could just give you

    x, _ = A.solve(b)

Or something similar and still manage to capture the dynamic sizing, the efficient tridiagaonal storage, sub-block structure if needed, and error information via info; you can trivially make a signature that does it in place if you don't want a silently copying version.

There's that LDB, and it certainly has nothing to do with a sub-block of the matrix since it has to do with the storage of the right hand side and enabling a single call to provide multiple solutions while assuming a particular array layout.

Anyways, nobody is really engaging with the real point: that it is obvious with use that Fortran is an old language because there are all kinds of these historical artifacts laying around. As I said, everyone knows it, everyone who interacts with it will feel it. But by now fortran isn't alone in this camp. Moreoever, so what? You should be able to admit to yourself that Fortran is an old language (that is simply a fact), that it gives the impression to most people of being an old language (that is again, simply a fact and why shouldn't it?), yet it has many modern features and people can be quite productive in it for some problem domains. Adding modern features isn't going to win people over that are prejudiced against Fortran.