Slashdot Mirror
In the Beginning Was FORTRAN.
Faux_Pseudo writes: "The NY Times (free reg) has a nostalgic article on the birth of the language that made computers usable by people without an IQ over 300. You might also note the lack of focus groups looking over their shoulders telling them what it should be, bureaucrats telling them when it must be released and bean counters about how much they could spend doing it."
FORTRAN and an Office XP ad on the same page next to each other. Obsoletes back to back. ;-)
Check out the G95 project at http://g95.sourceforge.net/. It's still in the beginning stages, but someone like you who knows the language could certainly help with the development. At worst, you could run your code through it and give feedback.
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perl -e'$_=shift;die eval' '"$^X $0\047\$_=shift;die eval\047 \047$_\047"' at -e line 1.
Ha! Do you realize how many scientists still use fortran? They still teach it in my computational physics class (although half the time it's taught in c).
I'll be the first to admit that it sucks to program in, but it does have its advantages. Fortran compilers for large machines tend to be very well optimized, and can generate faster code than the equivalent c compilers. Also, the restrictions the language imposes makes it easier for the compiler to optimize the resulting binary.
And don't forget, freedom comes with a price. C's pointers are fun to use and allow for many interesting solutions to problems, but they are the number one cause of bugs in C.
Doug
Venn ist das nurnstuck git und Slotermeyer? Ya! Beigerhund das oder die Flipperwaldt gersput!
....would still be in use 30 years later.
Just last week I integrated some Fortran code into a DLL that will wind up on several hundred desktops. It does regressions.
The regression code was written about 30 years ago. It still runs as good today as it did 30 years ago.
When was the last time you wrote something that will run exactly as you wrote it 30 years from now?
It would be nice to see Fortran moved into the CLRE framework MS is proposing to make cross language issues less tedious.
I'm still working on a clever footer.
Computer programmers, before high level programming languages, were poorly paid and were not considered to be highly skilled valuable employees. No, one thought them to be geniuses
The computers of the time were mostly used to calculate scientific problems, the scientists were not the programmers.
BTW Fortran was not the first high level language, their were a few interpreted languages before it.
Environmentalists are their own worst enemy. ~tricklenews.com
A: I don't know, but they will call it Fortran.
"Rub her feet." -- L.L.
If you're writing the newest and best desktop, use C++, or Java, or something else well suited for the job. If you want to integrate complex fluid systems or model intricate mechanical systems, grab yourself a Fortran compiler and go to town.
One of my biggest complaints about Linux is that there isn't a modern open source Fortran compiler for it.
The middle mind speaks!
This article made me think of a professor at our university...he's a walking piece of nostalgia himself. Our computer labs used to come well-stocked with SPSS v1 and Fortran manuals for people to sign out...of course no one ever did, except for this one prof who looks like he's straight out of the 70s.
A couple years ago we remodelled our labs and we tossed out all of the documentation produced before 1990, and of course he was appauled to find out that we no longer had the manuals he needed. The looks on the faces of the lab assistants (all born after 1977) when asked about Fortran syntax was priceless.
~~~ the problem as i see it is that i have absolutely no personality of my own.
Even a 'IQ over 300' can't save you from the slashdot effect.
C THE ONLY TIME I USED FORTRAN WAS IN HIGH x
C SCHOOL IN ABOUT 1980 ON A PDP-8 WITH A x
100 FORMAT('PUNCH CARD READER. OUR CARD PUNCH') x
110 FORMAT('DIDNT WORK SO WE HAD TO MARK THE') x
120 FORMAT('TEDIOUS PENCIL-MARKED CARDS BY') x
130 FORMAT('HAND. OUR FORTRAN COMPILER WAS') x
140 FORMAT('BROKEN TOO, SO I WROTE A PROGRAM') x
C IN BASIC TO MIMIC THE OUTPUT OF A FORTRAN x
C RUN, INCLUDING JOB CONTROL MESSAGES. I WAS x
C ABOUT THE ONLY PERSON IN MY CLASS x
C TO GET CREDIT ON THE FORTRAN SECTION x
C OF THE COURSE.
C IT LOOKS LIKE SLASHDOT IS MESSING UP MY
C CARD COLUMN FORMAT HERE. THIS PROGRAM
C WON'T LOAD.
SYNTAX ERROR LINE 1 COLUMN 3
ABEND JOB 1343
THU JUN 14, 2001 5:23GMT LPT42X
RUNTIME: 342MS COMPUTING UNITS USED: 7
YOU HAVE 432 UNITS REMAINING IN YOUR ACCOUNT
My current place of employment still uses FORTRAN, and it's still a very integral part of the system.
The computer system is a real time host that processes up to 800 transactions per second. Each transaction consists of incoming data, validation, comparison to other data, writing of data to disk, formulation of reply, validation of reply and sending of reply. The central engines are written in FORTRAN.
We have a slightly nicer front end (pre-compiler) called RATFOR - it's much closer to C. The rest of the system is written in C, and there's some nice stuff done to interface between the FORTRAN and C code.
This system is supporting a very large business, and has to be stable. It also has to handle enormous amounts of transactions at peak periods. It has to do it reliably, and fast. FORTRAN is at the heart of this system, pumping away without problems. Don't think it's crap, just because it's old!