Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!rutgers!njin!princeton!pucc!BVAUGHAN
From: BVAUGHAN@pucc.Princeton.EDU (Barbara Vaughan)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.fortran
Subject: Re: What is the FORTRAN for ?
Message-ID: <11455@pucc.Princeton.EDU>
Date: 27 Jul 90 14:44:08 GMT
References: <1990Jul25.174153.16896@ecn.purdue.edu> <90Jul25.220640edt.20170@me.utoronto.ca>
Reply-To: BVAUGHAN@pucc.Princeton.EDU
Organization: Princeton University, NJ
Lines: 27
Disclaimer: Author bears full responsibility for contents of this article

In article <90Jul25.220640edt.20170@me.utoronto.ca>, sun@me.utoronto.ca (Andy Sun Anu-guest) writes:

>In article <1990Jul25.174153.16896@ecn.purdue.edu> moshkovi@cn.ecn.purdue.edu writes:
>>Please, don't consider my question offending, but why the hell in this world
>>you people still using FORTRAN, while so many nice C around.
>>
>When I feel like typing lots of trailing semi-colons, I use C.
>When I feel like typing lots of tabs (or 6 spaces), I use Fortran.
>
My Fortran compiler gives you a choice: tabs, no semi-colons; or semi-
colons, no tabs.

Seriously, for the work I mostly do, Fortran is highly suitable.  A lot
of it is mathematical modelling or otherwise highly computational.
I work with academics who are not computer professionals but may
know SPSS or SAS, and Fortran is highly readable for them.  Some
of the statistical systems we use are Fortran-based (RATE and, I think,
GLIM).  Much of the existing software in my field is written in Fortran.
I rarely have to design a user interface, but there are Fortran callable
routines which allow screen operations, character manipulation and
graphics.

Most of all, over 90% of the programs I write will be used only once.
Fortran is quick to code and easy to debug.  There's no real reason
not to use Fortran in my field.

Barbara Vaughan