This led to a great deal of shifting and masking code using non-standard, vendor-specific, features.
Use of this data type dramatically simplified character manipulation in Fortran programs – rendering almost all uses of the Hollerith constant technique obsolete.
Hollerith constants were removed from the FORTRAN 77 Standard, though still described in an appendix for those wishing to continue support.
It assumes that at least four characters per word are supported by the implementation: Besides DATA statements, Hollerith constants were also allowed as actual arguments in subroutine calls.
The hello world program could also be written as: One of the most surprising features was the behaviour of Hollerith edit descriptors when used for input.