Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!usc!wuarchive!rex!rouge!rouge.usl.edu
From: ldl6737@rouge.usl.edu (Lafleur L Dwynn)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.fortran
Subject: FORTRAN vs. "PC languages"
Message-ID: <31746@rouge.usl.edu>
Date: 25 May 91 15:31:18 GMT
Sender: ldl6737@rouge.usl.edu
Distribution: usa
Organization: Univ. of Southwestern Louisiana
Lines: 39

Most of us physicists, mathematicians, and engineers educated in the '60s and
'70s cut our programming teeth on mainframe computers using FORTRAN.  Many have
since moved from mainframes to personal computers and have found that there are
other languages much more convenient for the PC platform, especially those which
come packaged in a friendly, efficient programming environment (e.g., QuickBASIC
or Turbo Pascal). Also, manufacturers of circuit boards that interface PCs to
laboratory instrumentation (e.g., the Hewlett-Packard HPIB interface card) tend
to write the interface software in these newer "PC languages", but not in
FORTRAN.  Some schools of engineering are, in fact, replacing FORTRAN with
others as the language of choice.

Now, I for one find it very difficult to program almost daily in two different
languages.  Maybe that's a sign of age, but I suspect most scientists would
prefer to stick to just one language if they could.  Putting aside the question
of the effort involved, why don't most of us leave FORTRAN for one of the newer
languages?  In discussions with others, I seem to find two primary reasons for
sticking to FORTRAN: (1) there exists a large stockpile of numerical subroutines
and packages written over the decades, and (2) many of us do computation
involving expressions with lots of operations on and functions of complex
variables, a variable type not allowed in binary operations in such languages as
BASIC, Pascal, and C.

If you are a big user of existing FORTRAN software packages, the first of these
reasons is sufficient for staying with FORTRAN and the question is decided.
However, the second reason is beginning to erode.  The recent appearance of C++
and other object oriented languages gives the programmer the use of complex
operations with the almost the same ease as in FORTRAN.  In fact, I understand
the rather popular Turbo C++ includes a library defining essentially all the
complex operations and functions appearing in FORTRAN.

I am posting this message to stimulate an exchange of opinions between FORTRAN
users about the advisability and experiences of switching to other languages.
What do you think?


L. Dwynn Lafleur
Professor of Physics
University of Southwestern Louisiana
lafleur@usl.edu