The major use is in cutting the size of the executable file PRODUCED by "f77" (usually a.out). It won't seem like a big deal to you now, but in applications containing many arrays with thousands to millions of elements each, this can MAKE a huge difference in the amount of disk space you soak up. A secondary use is that, when the program starts, the space FINALLY allocated to blank common in memory is at the very end of the program. If you are tricky enough, you can take advantage of this to dynamically extend the size of a SINGLE array in blank common as your space requirements grow during execution.

The major use is in cutting the size of the executable file produced by "f77" (usually a.out). It won't seem like a big deal to you now, but in applications containing many arrays with thousands to millions of elements each, this can make a huge difference in the amount of disk space you soak up. A secondary use is that, when the program starts, the space finally allocated to blank common in memory is at the very end of the program. If you are tricky enough, you can take advantage of this to dynamically extend the size of a single array in blank common as your space requirements grow during execution.