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In the Beginning Was FORTRAN.

Posted by michael on from the no-one-will-ever-need-more-than-80-columns dept.

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."

6 of 188 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Contrary to popular belief. . . by Anomie-ous+Cow-ard · · Score: 5
    One of my biggest complaints about Linux is that there isn't a modern open source Fortran compiler for it.

    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.

  2. Re:Fortan?! by drudd · · Score: 5

    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!
  3. Contrary to popular belief. . . by Laplace · · Score: 5
    Fortran does not suck. The Fortran you are thinking of is F77 and it's younger siblings. The strange formatting (a throwback to the punch card days), the awful syntax, and the CAPS. For my thesis I used Fortran 90/95. It was a fantastic language. I started my research in Matlab, but found that it was too slow. I wanted to port my work to a compiled language as fast as I could, and F90 had the perfect syntax for it. What would have taken me weeks in any other language took me three days in F90. It was fast, easy to extend (add new functions, new integrators, etc), and let me use a rich set of prewritten tools that I didn't need to worry about debugging.

    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!
  4. ah, nostalgia by chachi8 · · Score: 5

    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.

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    ~~~ the problem as i see it is that i have absolutely no personality of my own.
  5. This just goes to show.. by Liquid-Gecka · · Score: 5

    Even a 'IQ over 300' can't save you from the slashdot effect.

  6. MY FORTRAN EXPERIENCE by Waffle+Iron · · Score: 5

    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