Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!wuarchive!rex!uflorida!ufqtp!bernhold From: bernhold@qtp.ufl.edu (David E. Bernholdt) Newsgroups: comp.lang.fortran Subject: Re: The Standard for Fortran 77 (Re: intrinsic) Message-ID: <1214@orange19.qtp.ufl.edu> Date: 20 Dec 90 16:55:14 GMT References: <1990Dec20.112143.21877@qut.edu.au> Reply-To: bernhold@qtp.ufl.edu (David E. Bernholdt) Organization: University of Florida Quantum Theory Project Lines: 41 In article maine@elxsi.dfrf.nasa.gov (Richard Maine) writes: >Amen! In the case of one of our vendors, who I'll refrain from naming, >I tried unsucessfully to get them to throw out 90+% of their manual >and instead sell copies of the standard, letting their manual document >only deviations, extensions, and implementation specifics. FPS (Floating Point Systems) used to do exactly this with their FPS-x64 product line. In fact when we retired our '164, I grabbed the copy of the standard from the manual set for myself. Interestingly, they don't do this with their FPS-500 product line -- I suspect most of that came from Celerity. IMHO, the _best_ vendor Fortran manual/reference guide comes from DEC for VAX/VMS Fortran. The one I'm thinking of covers both the standard and the extensions, putting extensions in a different color of ink, so they are readily apparent. I can't comment on its treatment of the standard, because I rarely used it for such questions. However, I think it is quite nice to have the whole language (standard and extensions) set out in a single manual -- helps avoid getting the "runaround". >On 20 Dec 90 16:21:43 GMT, zctsfisher@qut.edu.au said: >zctsfisher> The standard for Fortran 77 is of course ANSI X3.9-1978 >zctsfisher> and this standard is easily accessible and clear. I quite agree with this, though there is one book I use more than the standard itself: Harry Katzan, Jr., Fortran77, Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1978, ISBN 0-442-24278-6. This is the book from which I _learned_ Fortran. Its comprehensive and inexpensive ($11 in paperback in 1982). I usually check it before going to the standard, and rarely do I need to go any further. I highly recommend it. -- David Bernholdt bernhold@qtp.ufl.edu Quantum Theory Project bernhold@ufpine.bitnet University of Florida Gainesville, FL 32611 904/392 6365