Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!apple!sun-barr!newstop!sun!khb From: khb@chiba.Eng.Sun.COM (Keith Bierman - SPD Advanced Languages) Newsgroups: comp.lang.fortran Subject: Re: What is the FORTRAN for ? Message-ID: Date: 25 Jul 90 18:53:30 GMT References: <1990Jul25.174153.16896@ecn.purdue.edu> <11029@chaph.usc.edu> Sender: news@sun.Eng.Sun.COM Organization: Sun MegaSystems Lines: 44 In-reply-to: ajayshah@aludra.usc.edu's message of 25 Jul 90 18:09:58 GMT In article <11029@chaph.usc.edu> ajayshah@aludra.usc.edu (Ajay Shah) writes: ... nightmare!! A language which has no data structures to speak of, Many dialects of fortran do. (vms, sun, many more) no dynamic allocation, ditto. (vms, sun, many more) no recursion ditto. (most unix fortrans, IBM fortran G) no checking for number/type of arguments to ditto , or via fortran "lint" programs (which predate C, and lint) In addition, as argued about endlessly in a variety of groups, there are specific things about fortran that make life easier for optimizers. I suggest those interested look back at comp.compilers, and old comp.lang.fortran and comp.arch groups to see the old "debates". There is little gained by repeating them. Folks code in fortran because it solves their problems well. Fortran codes written in the early sixities can still run (often with no or minimal mods) today. How many C codes written 10 years ago compile and execute cleanly under ANSI C ? C++. If history is any guide, 30 years from now, fortran codes will continue to run with minimal mods (though with mods they will run better). But that the C codes will have been massively overhauled. If your job is to solve some "timeless" problem (like Finite Elements, or matrix manipulation) which is the better language ? -- Keith H. Bierman |*My thoughts are my own. !! kbierman@Eng.Sun.COM It's Not My Fault | MTS --Only my work belongs to Sun* khb@chiba.Eng.Sun.COM I Voted for Bill & | Advanced Languages/Floating Point Group (415 336 2648) Opus "When the going gets Weird .. the Weird turn PRO"