RE: converting string to a numeric

> So is there an argument in Java, or any other language, to make it fixed
format?

Not from me, there isn't, and that was NOT what I said. Please don't put
absurdities in my mouth.

Java, like C, PL/I, Modula-2, Pascal, ALGOL, QBASIC, and (with a few
limitations) BASIC, is NATURALLY a free-format language. These languages
were designed from the ground up to be free-format.

COBOL, FORTRAN, and most especially RPG, were not.

Forcing a naturally-fixed-format language to be free-format is very nearly
as absurd an idea as forcing a naturally-free-format language to be
fixed-format: either way, you end up with a syntactic mess on your hands,
not only for the compiler, but also in terms of human-readability. It
would be much more productive to simply design a derivative language, than
to change the nature of an existing one. (Indeed, that is the difference
between QBASIC and BASIC: QBASIC is a block-structured language with
optional, alphanumeric, statement labels, with a general syntax derived
from BASIC and PL/I, whereas BASIC is a simple, non-block-structured
language, with mandatory statement numbers, designed to be easy to learn,
and easy to implement in as little memory as possible.)

--
JHHL