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How Not to Write FORTRAN in Any Language

Posted by michael on from the snap! dept.

gManZboy writes "In an article that's sure to p/o Fortran programmers, Donn Seeley has assembled a rant that posits there are characteristics of good coding that transcend all programming languages, except Fortran. Seriously though, his point is that early FORTRAN made coding ugly. Thus the joke 'Don't write FORTRAN' was applied to anyone with ugly code. Though Fortran has in recent years overcome its early challenges, the point -- 'Don't write FORTRAN' (i.e. ugly stuff) -- still applies."

6 of 502 comments (clear)

  1. fool! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    sure to p/o Fortran programmers

    You mean "sure to p .divide. o Fortran programmers.

    1. Re:fool! by pilgrim23 · · Score: 4, Funny

      -and he said with a voice quite solemn: "You'd better start int he seventh column!"

      --
      - Minutus cantorum, minutus balorum, minutus carborata descendum pantorum.
  2. Missing something by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    In an article that's sure to p/o Fortran programmers and bore the hell out of everyone else, Donn Seeley...

  3. You can write beautifully in ANY language... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    As long as you use vi. You can never write beautiful code with emacs

    I just figured I'd follow one pointless flame fest with another.

  4. About time someone spoke up about Fortran. by bigtallmofo · · Score: 5, Funny

    Seriously, it's about time that someone knocked Fortran programmers down a peg or two. It seems impossible to get any type of programming job if you don't know Fortran.

    Every job classified ad section is filled to the brim with Fortran positions while less relevant languages like Java, C# and Visual Basic are almost completely neglected.

    I for one welcome news like this if it help Fortran programmers acquire just a little humility.

    --
    I'm a big tall mofo.
  5. Re:And assembly is pretty? by deadlinegrunt · · Score: 4, Funny

    "I, for one, look forward to the day when I can think code and have it be done instead of writing it line-by-line."

    So you have aspirations to be in management or an end user? I'm not clear here.

    --
    BSD is designed. Linux is grown. C++ libs