[comp.lang.fortran] Any Good ForTran Reference Manuals?

seitz@cory.Berkeley.EDU (Matthew Eric Seitz) (04/07/88)

	I'm having difficulty locating a good ForTran reference manual.
I've found plenty of ForTran textbooks and cookbooks of routines written
in ForTran, but no reference manuals.  Is there a good manual that
covers standard ForTran 77 ( not a particular implementation )?

					Matthew Seitz
					seitz@cory.berkeley.edu

arnold@eneevax.UUCP (Douglas Arnold) (04/07/88)

In article <2138@pasteur.Berkeley.Edu> seitz@cory.Berkeley.EDU (Matthew Eric Seitz) writes:
>
>	I'm having difficulty locating a good ForTran reference manual.
>I've found plenty of ForTran textbooks and cookbooks of routines written
>in ForTran, but no reference manuals.  Is there a good manual that
>covers standard ForTran 77 ( not a particular implementation )?

I find "FORTRAN 77" by Harry Katzan, Jr. to be concise, relatively complete,
and easy to use for reference.  Publication data is Van Nostrand, 1978,
ISBN 0-442-24278-6.

reeder@ut-emx.UUCP (William P. Reeder) (04/08/88)

In article <2138@pasteur.Berkeley.Edu>, seitz@cory.Berkeley.EDU (Matthew Eric Seitz) writes:
> 
> 	I'm having difficulty locating a good ForTran reference manual.
> I've found plenty of ForTran textbooks and cookbooks of routines written
> in ForTran, but no reference manuals.  Is there a good manual that
> covers standard ForTran 77 ( not a particular implementation )?
> 
> 					Matthew Seitz
> 					seitz@cory.berkeley.edu

When looking for a FORTRAN reference manual, I don't think you can beat
"ANSI X3.9-1978 American National Standard Programming Language FORTRAN".
It is guaranteed to describe "standard" FORTRAN 77 (not a particular
implementation) because it IS the standard.  You can probably still
order it from:

	American National Standards Institute
	1430 Broadway
	New York, New York  10018

-- 
William {Wills,Card,Weekly,Virtual} Reeder	reeder@emx.utexas.edu

Scholars who study dinosaurs say there were some smart dinosaurs and lots
of stupid dinosaurs.  Those smart dinosaurs came along early, but in the
survival wars, please note, the stupid dinosaurs won.

DISCLAIMER:	I speak only for myself, and usually only to myself.

chpf127@ut-emx.UUCP (J. Eaton) (04/09/88)

In article <2138@pasteur.Berkeley.Edu>, seitz@cory.Berkeley.EDU (Matthew Eric Seitz) writes:
> 
> 	I'm having difficulty locating a good ForTran reference manual.
> I've found plenty of ForTran textbooks and cookbooks of routines written
> in ForTran, but no reference manuals.  Is there a good manual that
> covers standard ForTran 77 ( not a particular implementation )?
> 
> 					Matthew Seitz
> 					seitz@cory.berkeley.edu

I have found the following to be a very good reference text.

  Effective Fortran 77
  Michael Metcalf
  Oxford University Press, 1985
  ISBN 0-19-853709

He gives a short but fairly complete summary of the language followed by
chapters on portability, style, program design, efficiency, testing, and
documentation.

Things I like about the book include:

  o It stresses the importance of writing standard, portable code.
  o It stresses writing code which other people can read.
  o It contains none of the usual textbook junk (i.e. this is why
    we use do loops, this is what if statements are for, etc.).


J. Eaton
Department of Chemical Engineering
The University of Texas at Austin
Austin, Texas

Disclaimer:  My employer doesn't even know I'm speaking, but if he did, 
             he'd want you to know that I'm not speaking for him.

seitz@cory.Berkeley.EDU (Matthew Eric Seitz) (04/09/88)

In article <1636@ut-emx.UUCP" reeder@ut-emx.UUCP (William P. Reeder) writes:
"In article <2138@pasteur.Berkeley.Edu>, seitz@cory.Berkeley.EDU (Matthew Eric Seitz) writes:
"> [...]
"> 					Matthew Seitz
"> 					seitz@cory.berkeley.edu
"
"When looking for a FORTRAN reference manual, I don't think you can beat
""ANSI X3.9-1978 American National Standard Programming Language FORTRAN".
"It is guaranteed to describe "standard" FORTRAN 77 (not a particular
"implementation) because it IS the standard.
"[...]
"-- 
"William {Wills,Card,Weekly,Virtual} Reeder	reeder@emx.utexas.edu
"
"Scholars who study dinosaurs say there were some smart dinosaurs and lots
"of stupid dinosaurs.  Those smart dinosaurs came along early, but in the
"survival wars, please note, the stupid dinosaurs won.
"
"DISCLAIMER:	I speak only for myself, and usually only to myself.

	I had considered ordering the ANSI Standard both for Fortran and
Pascal, as well as the ISO Pascal standard.  However, after reading some
excerpts of the ISO Pascal standard quoted in _Standard_Pascal_ by Doug
Cooper, I decided I'd be better of sticking to good third party reference
manual, due to the cumbersome language used in the standard.  By the way,
_Standard_Pascal_ is the best language manual I have ever read.  If anyone
is familiar with this book, and knows of a ForTran reference manual which
is comparable, please let me know.

						Matthew Seitz
						seitz@cory.berkeley.edu