Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!att!osu-cis!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!mailrus!cornell!batcomputer!braner
From: braner@batcomputer.tn.cornell.edu (Moshe Braner)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st
Subject: Re: Fortran to C translation
Summary: Get Absoft AC/FORTRAN77 compiler, or use the FOR_C translator
Message-ID: <6495@batcomputer.tn.cornell.edu>
Date: 8 Oct 88 20:22:45 GMT
References: <4054@watvlsi.waterloo.edu>
Reply-To: braner@tcgould.tn.cornell.edu (Moshe Braner)
Organization: Cornell Theory Center, Cornell University, Ithaca NY
Lines: 30

[]

If you have a bunch of FORTRAN code and you want to run it on the ST,
I strongly recommend the Absoft compiler (AC/FORTRAN77).  It will
run standard code as-is, and about as fast as is possible on a 68000.
(BTW this is the SAME compiler that is sold as Microsoft FORTRAN on
the Macintosh!)  Absoft also have many nice extensions to FORTRAN77,
plus GEM/TOS support.

If you want to use C, then use MWC, or, better, Laser C.  MWC is a bit
slower than Absoft on FP, while Laser C is a bit faster than even Absoft.
Caveat: C does it all in double precision whether you want it or not.

To translate FORTRAN source code to C, especially if you want readable
C code that can be further maintained or modified, it seems like the
only solution (anybody know of others?) is the FOR_C translator made
by Cobalt Blue.  Alas it costs $750 (but there's a 30% educomp discount).
See Computer Language, Oct. 88 for a review of sorts.  FOR_C is sold as
an MS-DOS executable, but the output is ANSI C so is portable.  The
source code for the supporting libraries (that do the I/O, etc) is
included.

- Moshe Braner

 1*t800 == 3*68881
16*t800 == Cray

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