Differences between current version and revision by previous author of Fortran.
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| Newer page: | version 6 | Last edited on Wednesday, November 19, 2003 5:44:36 pm | by AristotlePagaltzis | |
| Older page: | version 3 | Last edited on Saturday, September 13, 2003 1:10:49 pm | by GerwinVanDeSteeg | Revert |
@@ -1,8 +1,12 @@
An [Acronym] for __For__mula __Tran__slator.
-The very first high level ProgrammingLanguage ever invented. It
was very limited in constructs, and the
use of GOTO
was very prevalent in [Fortran] programs. This prompted
the hugely famous ''GOTO considered harmful''
article. The language has evolved over time, with current dialects supporting structured programming. To this day it is still the preferred language for number crunching applications on supercomputers, for which [Fortran] [Compiler]s have been heavily optimized
.
+The very first high level ProgrammingLanguage ever invented. Initially halfway between BASIC and AssemblyLanguage, it
was very limited in constructs. The
use of GoTo
was therefor
very prevalent in [Fortran] programs, leading to
the hugely famous GoToStatementConsideredHarmful
article.
-;: "
The primary purpose of the DATA statement is to give names to constants; instead of referring to pi as 3.141592653589793 at every appearance, the variable pi can be given that value with a DATA statement and used instead of the longer form of the constant. This also simplifies modifying the program, should the value of pi change."
%%% -- FORTRAN
manual for Xerox computers
+This notoriety has also led to it being used as a synonym for hard to maintain code in various contexts - ''real programmers can write [Fortran] in every language''.
+
+Nevertheless the language has evolved over time to allow local variables, even recursion and other advanced programming techniques. It is still the language of choice for number crunching on supercomputers, for which [Fortran] [Compiler]s have been heavily optimised.
+
+
;: The primary purpose of the DATA statement is to give names to constants; instead of referring to pi as 3.141592653589793 at every appearance, the variable pi can be given that value with a DATA statement and used instead of the longer form of the constant. This also simplifies modifying the program, should the value of pi change. %%% ''[Fortran]
manual for Xerox computers''
-----
-CategoryProgrammingLanguages
+CategoryProgrammingLanguages, CategoryDeprecatedProgrammingLanguages
