![]() ![]() ![]() If you’ve never programmed before in your life, you will not find Fortran90 (for example) so easy to learn. But so are many modern languages like Matlab, Python and R. The old versions of Fortran (Fortran77) were indeed easy to learn (for some people). Fortran is easy to learnĪgain, a statement that needs some further qualification. And with the modern Fortran dialects, it is even not too hard to make inefficient code. But the fact is that although making efficient code in Fortran is probably easier, Fortran will not always outperform other languages. The latter expression is obviously less catchy than the previous ones. Or even better: “it allows a straightforward and simple expression of common number crunching tasks and this makes it relatively easy for a compiler to build an efficient executable for such tasks”. A better way to say it would be: “if you use it for number crunching, it’s efficient”. But there is a problem with the logic in this statement. Many Fortran developers will tell you that Fortran is extremely efficient and therefore the best for number crunching. So there is a strong argument to keep on building forth on this firm basis ( which we do on a daily basis at VORtech). As far as this code is structured well enough and coded neatly, rebuilding them in a different language would be a total waste of resources. These systems have been improved for over thirty years and have accumulated the wisdom of generations of scientists and developers. Then, Fortran was the scientific software engineering language of choice (or rather: more or less the only language, there was not really a choice). But the fact is that many software systems that we use today for our weather predictions, storm surge predictions, traffic monitoring etc. If it wasn’t for the legacy, Fortran would have a much harder time to survive. In fact, this reason could also be the 2nd through 5th reason at the same time. There is a huge legacy of extremely valuable Fortran code out there. A few of the main reasons why we still work with a language that you thought had ceased to be long ago. So, here’s for the people that do not belong to this niche (or cult, if you will). Even though it ranks after place 10 on Tiobe’s list of popular programming languages. In our niche of scientific software development, Fortran is very much alive and kicking. But in fact, that cult is not very secret and the knowledge is not so exclusive. Sometimes it’s annoying but more often it makes me feel just a bit proud, like I belong to some old secret cult from days of yore, preserving sacred knowledge. More than once, I had to spell the name: F-O-R-T-R-A-N. It’s not just that most of these companies do not offer Fortran developers, they simply don’t know what that language is. One of those questions is inevitably: what skills do you require from your software developers? And, just as inevitably, the discussion takes an awkward turn when I tell them that I need Fortran developers. If I’m in a friendly mood, I listen to them politely and answer their questions. We’re often approached by companies offering software developers for hire. ![]()
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