Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!uwvax!oddjob!ncar!gatech!hubcap!fpst
From: fpst@hubcap.UUCP (Steve Stevenson)
Newsgroups: comp.arch
Subject: Re: FORTRAN Horror
Message-ID: <1170@hubcap.UUCP>
Date: 22 Mar 88 13:15:25 GMT
References: <2596@pdn.UUCP>
Organization: Clemson University, Clemson, SC
Lines: 39

in article <2596@pdn.UUCP>, alan@pdn.UUCP (Alan Lovejoy) says:
> 
> Performance is an OBSESSION with these people.  Perhaps rightly so in
> some or even most cases.  When Ada (Modula-2, C, C++, ML, Oberon,
> whatever the latest and greatest language is...) compilers can 
> produce significantly faster code than FORTRAN compilers,
> even when the full complement of abstraction mechanisms are used,
> then you MIGHT be able to interest the FORTRAN crowd in such a language.
> Until then, FORGET it.  And even then, learning the new language had
> better not take too much time out of these people's busy schedules.
> They have REAL work to do (pun intended).
> 
> Only half :-)
> 
> --alan@pdn 

As a language person and a numerical analyst ( and being age > 40 :-) ) I
think I can add something here.  Go back to '57 and look at the
situation.  There were no higher level languages and the problems were
all numerical.  Then the comptrollers office found out about computers.

The history of programming languages is a series of models which
solve certain problems and present certain abstractions.  The reason
Fortran continues as a favorite has been mentioned in bits and pieces.
But look at the abomination that F8X has foisted on us.

Performance is an obsession because the size of the problems that are
in front of the engineer and scientist today.  *Prima facie*, that
obsession is not bad.  The problem with many languages today is that
they address the *general* problem.  All the funny business with
arrays could be avoided if the standard shapes were incorporated in the
language.  I.e., settle on something - even SAXPY - as a model and build
the language around that.

-- 
Steve Stevenson                            fpst@hubcap.clemson.edu
(aka D. E. Stevenson),                     fpst@clemson.csnet
Department of Computer Science,            comp.parallel
Clemson University, Clemson, SC 29634-1906 (803)656-5880.mabell