Author: Bob Durrett
Date: 11:57:32 02/05/04
Quote from an MSNBC article: Forty-seven years after IBM unleashed it, Fortran (formula translation), the original “high-level” programming language, would seem to be the infotech equivalent of cuneiform. But it’s still widely used, especially in scientific computing. Why has this Eisenhower-era veteran outlasted so many hardware and software generations? “It’s partly the learning curve,” says Hewlett-Packard Laboratories’ Hans Boehm, former chair of the Association for Computing Research’s special-interest group on programming languages. “For some people it’s good enough, and it’s hard to let go of something once you learn it.” Adaptability and compatibility, which made Fortran the programmers’ lingua franca in the 1960s and ’70s, are also key to its viability. Major upgrades have boosted efficiency and added features while preserving old versions intact. So a vast number of tried-and-true Fortran 77 programs jibe with the current Fortran 90. Microsoft, take note. Maybe chess programmers are missing out on the best language of all! Bob D.
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