Xref: utzoo comp.arch:4148 comp.lang.misc:1371
Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!mcvax!ukc!dcl-cs!nott-cs!anw
From: anw@nott-cs.UUCP
Newsgroups: comp.arch,comp.lang.misc
Subject: Re: FORTRAN Horror
Message-ID: <552@tuck.nott-cs.UUCP>
Date: 29 Mar 88 14:08:07 GMT
References: <24861@yale-celray.yale.UUCP> <1135@pembina.UUCP> <2596@pdn.UUCP> <551@tuck.nott-cs.UUCP> <4816@ecsvax.UUCP>
Reply-To: anw@nott-cs.UUCP (Dr A. N. Walker)
Followup-To: comp.lang.misc
Organization: Department of Mathematics, The University, NOTTINGHAM, NG7 2RD, UK.
Lines: 40

In article <4816@ecsvax.UUCP> urjlew@ecsvax.UUCP (Rostyk Lewyckyj) writes:
>Since a mail reply to Mr. Walker in Great Britain is unlikely
>to be accepted [...].

    Nottingham isn't exactly the remotest place in the universe!  We do
    have intelligent life here, and an excellent cricket team.

>In article <551@tuck.nott-cs.UUCP>, anw@nott-cs.UUCP writes:
>> [ In response to a claim that Fortran addicts might change if the modern
>>   languages were more efficient, I quoted a Whetstone benchmark, showing
>>   that on an ICL 1906A in 1976
>>		Pascal > Algol 68 > Fortran >> Algol 60
>>   with little effect on the users. ]
>Note that the Fortran compiler figure is the best of the figures
>for ICL compilers.

    Yeah, third isn't bad.  But note that the Algol 68 wasn't optimised,
    and the Fortran was.  Good modern languages [1968 onwards!] allow the
    user to say what is wanted in a way that is easy to compile into
    efficient code.

    While I'm on the subject, a correspondent tells me of vague memories
    that Pascal and Algol also benchmarked faster than Fortran on the CDC
    7600, again with very little effect on the general population of users.
    Rings a bell with me too -- anyone able to confirm or deny?

>		    Also did the machine you ran on have hardware
>floating point?

    Of course.  '6A was top of the range.

>Anyway this should be being discussed in comp.lang.fortran.

    I'd never dare admit to reading "comp.lang.fortran".  But in deference
    to the minimal architecture content of these postings, I'm re-directing
    follow-ups to "comp.lang.misc".

--
Andy Walker, Maths Dept, Nott'm Univ.
anw@maths.nott.ac.uk