xxbja@csduts1.lerc.nasa.gov (Betty Jo Armstead) (08/17/90)
From: xxbja@csduts1.lerc.nasa.gov (Betty Jo Armstead) Path: csduts1.lerc.nasa.gov!xxbja Newsgroups: lerc.test Subject: History of FORTRAN Expires: References: Sender: Reply-To: xxbja@csduts1.lerc.nasa.gov (Betty Jo Armstead) Followup-To: Distribution: lerc Organization: NASA/Lewis Research Center, Cleveland Keywords: >Speaking of the various versions of Fortran: > >The later versions of Fortran (IV, 66, 77) are reasonably downward >compatible with each other, even though there are some discrepancies, >such as the handling of a degenerate DO loop (DO 10 I=1,0 ...). > >However, from what I've heard, Fortran I and II were quite different >from later versions in, for example, the syntax for I/O statements. > >I've never used any of these old versions, or even come across a manual. >So could somoeone out there please say something about what these >languages were like? > > >Magnus Olsson | \e+ /_ >Dept. of Theoretical Physics | \ Z / q >University of Lund, Sweden | >----< >Internet: magnus@thep.lu.se | / \===== g >Bitnet: THEPMO@SELDC52 | /e- \q Having been a user of the early FORTRAN I on the IBM 704, perhaps I can shed some light. The first Fortran complier we had at Lewis Research Center NASA was Fortran I. The compiler punched a self loading binary deck. This deck could then be loaded in via the card reader. There was no operating system and no online user storage. My best memory was that a couple of people at United Airlines were the first to propose the Fortran language. I am not sure if they actually wrote a translator (FORTRAN stands for Formula Translation). At any rate IBM finally provided FORTRAN I for the 704. As to the language differences: a. There was no common or common blocks. b. The I/O was pretty similiar but there were no error or end of file exits. c. The FREQUENCY statement was to aid the compiler in compiling efficient if statements. d. There was no way to write a subroutine, although I believe you could write a one line function statement. f. Arrays were limited to 3 dimensions. g. There were no logical ifs. h. The only types were double and integer, the default being single precision. i. Integers were limited to 32k. I will try to find an old FORTRAN I manual, but I suspect they are all gone. By the way SHARE, was really the birth place of FORTRAN. -- _____________________________________________________________________ Betty Jo Armstead SVERDRUP Technology Inc. 21000 Brookpark Rd.Ms 142-2 Nasa Lewis Research Center