rsc@rsc.boltz.cs.cmu.edu (R Scott Crowder) (06/04/91)
Does anyone have a list of decent fortran reference books? I am looking for something like K&R or the Harbison & Steele C reference books. The style guides mentioned recently are useful reading, but I want more of a reference manual. Thanks
shenkin@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu (Peter S. Shenkin) (06/05/91)
In article <13270@pt.cs.cmu.edu> rsc@rsc.boltz.cs.cmu.edu (R Scott Crowder) writes: >Does anyone have a list of decent fortran reference books? I am looking for >something like K&R or the Harbison & Steele C reference books... Metcalf, "Effective Fortran 77", Oxford U. Press, is excellent. It's very careful with standard conformance, and has some good stylistic hints as well; he "deprecates" certain features. My main problem with it is a poor index; you pretty much have to read the whole book to know where to find something. -P. ************************f*u*cn*rd*ths*u*cn*gt*a*gd*jb************************** Peter S. Shenkin, Department of Chemistry, Barnard College, New York, NY 10027 (212)854-1418 shenkin@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu(Internet) shenkin@cunixf(Bitnet) ***"In scenic New York... where the third world is only a subway ride away."***
bernhold@red8 (David E. Bernholdt) (06/06/91)
In article <13270@pt.cs.cmu.edu> rsc@rsc.boltz.cs.cmu.edu (R Scott Crowder) writes: >Does anyone have a list of decent fortran reference books? I strongly recommend Harry Katzan, Jr., Fortran77, Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1978, ISBN 0-442-25428-8 (pbk) though I understand it may be out of print. -- David Bernholdt bernhold@qtp.ufl.edu Quantum Theory Project bernhold@ufpine.bitnet University of Florida Gainesville, FL 32611 904/392 6365
wsb@boise.Eng.Sun.COM (Walt Brainerd) (06/06/91)
In article <28962@uflorida.cis.ufl.EDU>, bernhold@red8 (David E. Bernholdt) writes: > I strongly recommend > Harry Katzan, Jr., Fortran77, Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1978. I reviewed this book (Computing Reviews) when it came out and there was a factual error about the language (not just a typo) on about every page. Though many may be minor, they probably are significant to readers of this group. I would much rather trust Meissner & Organick or Wagener, even though they are written as textbooks--at least these guys know the language well. > though I understand it may be out of print. But maybe this is all moot. -- Walt Brainerd Sun Microsystems, Inc. walt.brainerd@eng.sun.com MS MTV 5-40 Mountain View, CA 94043 415/336-5991
mwette@csi.jpl.nasa.gov (Matt Wette) (06/06/91)
In article <1991Jun5.161838.4436@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu> shenkin@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu (Peter S. Shenkin) writes: >In article <13270@pt.cs.cmu.edu> rsc@rsc.boltz.cs.cmu.edu (R Scott Crowder) writes: >>Does anyone have a list of decent fortran reference books? I am looking for >>something like K&R or the Harbison & Steele C reference books... > >Metcalf, "Effective Fortran 77", Oxford U. Press, is excellent. It's very >careful with standard conformance, and has some good stylistic hints as >well; he "deprecates" certain features. > >My main problem with it is a poor index; you pretty much have to read the >whole book to know where to find something. > > -P. >************************f*u*cn*rd*ths*u*cn*gt*a*gd*jb************************** >Peter S. Shenkin, Department of Chemistry, Barnard College, New York, NY 10027 >(212)854-1418 shenkin@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu(Internet) shenkin@cunixf(Bitnet) >***"In scenic New York... where the third world is only a subway ride away."*** My favorite is "Fortran 77," by Harry Katzan, Jr., Van Nostrand Reinhold Company, 1978 No style hints. Fortran 77, and all of it, with a few example fragments to give you the idea. Too many Fortran programming books omit the obscure parts of the language. How many readers know that the following is legal and know what it is used for? SUBROUTINE XYZ(I, *, *, *) This is covered in the above reference. Matt _________________________________________________________________ Matthew R. Wette | Jet Propulsion Laboratory, 198-326 mwette@csi.jpl.nasa.gov | 4800 Oak Grove Dr, Pasadena,CA 91109 -----------------------------------------------------------------
jwe@che.utexas.edu (John W. Eaton) (06/06/91)
In article <1991Jun5.161838.4436@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu> shenkin@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu (Peter S. Shenkin) writes: >> Metcalf, "Effective Fortran 77", Oxford U. Press, is excellent. >> >> My main problem with it is a poor index; you pretty much have to >> read the whole book to know where to find something. Yes, but the book is pretty short so it's not terribly difficult to read the entire thing carefully. In article <1991Jun6.031122.27876@jato.jpl.nasa.gov> mwette@csi.jpl.nasa.gov (Matt Wette) prefers: > "Fortran 77," by Harry Katzan, Jr., Van Nostrand Reinhold Company, 1978 > > No style hints. Fortran 77, and all of it, with a few example > fragments to give you the idea. This sounds very much like Metcalf without style hints. I agree that too many style tips are not terribly desirable, but is it really that bad to be told that excessive use of computed goto statements is generally considered ugly and hard to maintain? > Too many Fortran programming books omit the obscure parts of the > language. How many readers know that the following is legal and > know what it is used for? > > SUBROUTINE XYZ(I, *, *, *) > > This is covered in [Katzan]. It is also covered by Metcalf. He also points out that Excessive use of the alternate RETURN feature can lead to a messy logic flow between subprograms. Its use should be reserved for exception handling... Unfortunately, he doesn't point out that the same effect can be achieved (in a clearer way, IMHO :-) by simply using a single extra integer parameter, say ERROR, and setting its value before returning. -- John W. Eaton | If the odds are a million to one jwe@che.utexas.edu | against something occurring, chances Department of Chemical Engineering | are 50-50 it will. The University of Texas at Austin | -- fortune(1)
carroll@ssc-vax (Jeff Carroll) (06/06/91)
In article <14612@exodus.Eng.Sun.COM> wsb@boise.Eng.Sun.COM (Walt Brainerd) writes: >In article <28962@uflorida.cis.ufl.EDU>, bernhold@red8 (David E. Bernholdt) writes: >> I strongly recommend >> Harry Katzan, Jr., Fortran77, Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1978. > >I reviewed this book (Computing Reviews) when it came out and there >was a factual error about the language (not just a typo) on about >every page. Though many may be minor, they probably are significant >to readers of this group. I would much rather trust Meissner & Organick >or Wagener, even though they are written as textbooks--at least these >guys know the language well. Yeah. I was a little surprised to see someone recommending Katzan. I haven't read the fortran book, but his book on operating systems was entirely IBM-centric, utterly vague, and worse than useless. (Knowing very little about the IBM world, I can't vouch for the correctness of his facts.) Katzan used to work for Boeing, too. Caveat emptor :^). I have a copy of the Barnes & Noble outline on FORTRAN and have found it helpful for general reference though probably not detailed enough for the serious. I've been fortunate enough to have a copy of the ANSI standard (and someone who understood it) around when I needed it, and doubly fortunate at having been able to write most of my FORTRAN under VMS. -- Jeff Carroll carroll@ssc-vax.boeing.com "...and of their daughters it is written, 'Cursed be he who lies with any manner of animal.'" - Talmud
jlg@cochiti.lanl.gov (Jim Giles) (06/06/91)
In article <50082@ut-emx.uucp>, jwe@che.utexas.edu (John W. Eaton) writes: |> [...] |> Excessive use of the alternate RETURN feature can lead to a messy |> logic flow between subprograms. Its use should be reserved for |> exception handling... |> |> Unfortunately, he doesn't point out that the same effect can be |> achieved (in a clearer way, IMHO :-) by simply using a single extra |> integer parameter, say ERROR, and setting its value before returning. I disagree. Any user of Fortran should know what an alternate return means and an IF statement in the same context would be no clearer (in fact, it would be less clear in the case for which alternate return was intended - see below). Further, the IF statement is much less efficient: you are going to make a test for error in the caller when the subroutine has already made such a test. Further, you will be making a test which fails 99.99% of the time (assuming that you really are using alternate return only for exception handling). This means that your test is doubly wasted: it's seldom true (so it wastes time) and it actually obscures the _usual_ flow of control through your code. Exception handling is a problem for which _everyone_ agrees that non-local control flow is the _natural_ way to handle it. Ada exceptions don't explicitly test at each level, you "raise" an exception and the currently active handler (wherever that is) get control. Even C has setjump/longjump (a very clumsy but effective mechanism). Nobody wants their code strewn with constantly interspersed testS for conditions that hardly ever arise (and which the explicit IF test, when successful, would either return or GOTO anyway - so it's still non-local even with the explicit tests). J. Giles
latenser@hoss.unl.edu (Dan Latenser) (06/07/91)
>In article .....edu> rsc@rsc.boltz.cs.cmu.edu (R Scott Crowder) writes: >>Does anyone have a list of decent fortran reference books? I am looking for >>something like K&R or the Harbison & Steele C reference books... Any comments on: Structured Fortran 77 Programming by Seymour Pollack 496 pages (seems complete to me) Boyd & Fraser Publishing Company 3627 Sacramento Street San Francisco CA 94118 copyright 1982 (my copy) Pollack was/is in the Department of Computer Science School of Engineering and Applied Science Washingto University in St. Louis and another favorite of mine Advanced problem solving with Fortran 77 (including a preview of Fortran 8x) Stacey L. Edgar 445 pages ( not very much introductory ) Science Research Associates, INC. (Pergamon) Chicago etc..... copyright 1989 and yet another useful book Fortran Tools for VAX/VMS and MS-DOS R.K. Jones and T. Crabtree 446 pages ( full of tools - not math tools - that I often use on our HP 9000 unix box with little or no trouble. This is a different type of book - does not teach fortran.) Wiley and Sons copyright 1988 Dan Latenser latenser@hoss.unl.edu
wws@raphael.cray.com (Walter Spector) (06/07/91)
In article <1991Jun5.161838.4436@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu>, shenkin@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu (Peter S. Shenkin) writes: |> In article <13270@pt.cs.cmu.edu> rsc@rsc.boltz.cs.cmu.edu (R Scott Crowder) writes: |> >Does anyone have a list of decent fortran reference books? I am looking for |> >something like K&R or the Harbison & Steele C reference books... |> |> Metcalf, "Effective Fortran 77", Oxford U. Press, is excellent. It's very |> careful with standard conformance, and has some good stylistic hints as |> well; he "deprecates" certain features. I also enjoy Metcalf's "Fortran Optimisation" book. It was published in about '82 and is starting to get a bit dated though. Apparently he has also recently published a book on Fortran-90. Metcalf works at CERN and knows Fortran quite well. Walt -- Walt Spector (wws@renaissance.cray.com) "Parity is for farmers" Sunnyvale, California - Seymour Cray _._ _._ _.... _. ._.