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From: bernhold@red8 (David E. Bernholdt)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.fortran
Subject: Katzan, Fortran77 (was Re: Decent FORTRAN books?)
Message-ID: <28994@uflorida.cis.ufl.EDU>
Date: 7 Jun 91 01:27:20 GMT
References: <28962@uflorida.cis.ufl.EDU> <14612@exodus.Eng.Sun.COM> <4078@ssc-bee.ssc-vax.UUCP>
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In article <4078@ssc-bee.ssc-vax.UUCP> carroll@ssc-vax.UUCP (Jeff Carroll) writes:
>In article <14612@exodus.Eng.Sun.COM> wsb@boise.Eng.Sun.COM (Walt Brainerd) writes:
>>In article <28962@uflorida.cis.ufl.EDU>, bernhold@red8 (David E. Bernholdt) writes:
>>> I strongly recommend
>>> Harry Katzan, Jr., Fortran77, Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1978.
>>
>>I reviewed this book (Computing Reviews) when it came out and there
>>was a factual error about the language (not just a typo) on about
>>every page.
>
>Yeah. I was a little surprised to see someone recommending Katzan. I haven't
>read the fortran book, but his book on operating systems was entirely
>IBM-centric, utterly vague, and worse than useless. (Knowing very little
>about the IBM world, I can't vouch for the correctness of his facts.)

Katzan's Fortran77 is not biased toward any machine at all -- it is
just an exposition for the standard language, no extensions or
anything.  This is probably the biggest reason while I like it.  When
I picked it up, I knew how to _program_, but I didn't know _Fortran_,
so I could never stomach the usual Fortran textbooks. I still think
its a good buy as a reference.  And since its only about the standard
language, without vendor extensions, it is the best thing short of the
standard itself which I have seen for helping to steer clear of vendor
extensions. I have read Metcalf's "Effective Fortran77" and think it
is also quite good, but I wouldn't put exactly in the category of a
"reference book" for the language.

I don't claim to have the extensive knowledge of the ANSI X3.9-1978
document that Walt Brainerd and others reading this group do, so I
won't dispute the remark about factual errors.  I will say, however,
that I don't think they've ever been significant enough to lead me
wrong -- of course maybe I'm just lucky.  I usually prefer to check
Katzan before I check the standard itself -- more compact, less
standard-ese and somewhat more familiar, as I only acquired a copy of
the standard a couple years ago.
-- 
David Bernholdt			bernhold@qtp.ufl.edu
Quantum Theory Project		bernhold@ufpine.bitnet
University of Florida
Gainesville, FL  32611		904/392 6365