Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!cwjcc!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ucbvax!ucdavis!caldwr!rfinch
From: rfinch@caldwr.UUCP (Ralph Finch)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.fortran
Subject: Re: Teaching Fortran (was Re: Two Fortran Standards)
Summary: engineering students need Fortran and structured programming
	 techniques
Message-ID: <570@caldwr.UUCP>
Date: 9 Sep 89 23:28:09 GMT
References: <314@unmvax.unm.edu> <13833@megaron.arizona.edu> <370@unmvax.unm.edu> <12814@pur-ee.UUCP>
Organization: California Department of Water Resources
Lines: 34



In article <12814@pur-ee.UUCP> hankd@pur-ee.UUCP (Hank Dietz) writes:
. . .
>At Purdue, ee263, our introductory engineering programming class, used to be
>Pascal followed by a quick review of Fortran.  It was a tight fit, so the
>Fortran was pulled out into a separate 1-credit course one year ago.  That
>Fortran course has *NEVER* been offered...  my understanding is that instead
>of 500 students, only about 5 wanted it and that wasn't enough.

But what will those students do when they graduate, go to work and
find that all the existing engineering programs are Fortran?  Some
exposure to Fortran will help them and their employers.

>Would we be more likely to teach 8x?  No.  In fact, we'd be *LESS* likely...
>for the same reasons we still stress old C, not ANSI C:  no compilers for the
>new stuff, most software is written in the old style, etc.
>
>As an optimizing/parallelizing compiler researcher, I see Fortran as serving
>the same function now that Latin served in the middle ages.  Sure, it is old
>and awkward, but a lot of things were originally expressed in it; somehow it
>seems very wrong to try to "modernize" the language.  For this reason, I
>personally prefer teaching Fortran 66 over 77 and 8x (and over IV, WATFOR,
>WATFIV, etc.).  Fortran 66 was history -- worth preserving as such.

But not only are there bunches of old F66 programs, new programs are
still written in Fortran; unfortunately often using the old F66
techniques (even by students out of college!).  Fortran will be used
for a long, long time to come, IMHO.  I would like to see
*engineering* students taught the same structured programming
techniques that the CSc students learn, using whatever language.
-- 
Ralph Finch
...ucbvax!ucdavis!caldwr!rfinch