Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!sri-unix!amdahl!ames!pasteur!agate!saturn!ucscc.UCSC.EDU!haynes
From: haynes@ucscc.UCSC.EDU (99700000)
Newsgroups: comp.arch
Subject: Re: FORTRAN Horror
Message-ID: <2424@saturn.ucsc.edu>
Date: 19 Mar 88 06:21:37 GMT
References: <24861@yale-celray.yale.UUCP> <1135@pembina.UUCP>
Sender: usenet@saturn.ucsc.edu
Reply-To: haynes@ucscc.UCSC.EDU (Jim Haynes)
Organization: California State Home for the Weird
Lines: 18

We have to keep in mind that FORTRAN was originally designed to
make it easier to program one architecture, the IBM 704 with up
to 4K of 36-bit memory.  I believe the whole idea of a language
as a machine-independent way to program evolved later (correct/flame
me if I'm wrong).  So getting the machine-dependent features out
of the language has been like pulling teeth.  I remember a scientist
telling me a few years ago that he had been forced to learn Fortran IV
because Fortran II wasn't available anymore on any machine he had
access to.  Also Fortran was created before there were any operating
systems.  I remember some 704 users complaining loudly when their
machine was replaced by a 7090 and they didn't have the control over
the machine they were used to having.  They had to learn to live
with a monitor that would throw their program off the machine when
something went wrong, rather than halting so they could inspect and
change memory contents through the console.
haynes@ucscc.ucsc.edu
haynes@ucscc.bitnet
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