fisher@ncsu.UUCP (Edward L Fisher) (01/10/85)
Subj: Fortran-77 compiler for VAX UNIX.
My name is Bruce Watson, and I am a grad student at North Carolina State
University. As a part of a current research project, it is required that
a DBMS be converted from VMS Fortran to UNIX Fortran. The DBMS is RIM
(Relational Information Manager) originated by Boeing Computer Services.
RIM was written in Fortran-66 originally. When it was upgraded to version 5.0
the upgrade was in VMS Fortran. VMS Fortran is a very large superset of
ANSI standard Fortran-77, and the original programmers made good use of these
available extensions.
In this project, an Expert System is being interfaced to a DBMS. We would
like to use RIM simply because we have the source code (which makes it easy to
experiment with rules and constraint systems). Unfortunately, all of our
Artificial Intelligence tools run under UNIX. To be compatible, RIM must also
run under UNIX. (Or, to be specific in our case, Eunice (VMS), unfortunately)
The compiler that we now use originated at Bell Labs in 1978. It was
written by S. I. Feldman and P. J. Weinberger. Since it was written under UNIX
it was written in C and uses D. M. Ritchie's Standard C I/O package as the
main part of the runtime I/O library. It is called Fortran-77 ver 2.10.
The problems that I have run into using this compiler include the fact
that it does not support the F-66 convention of storing characters in a real
variable (F-66 only had integer and real data types. Character data types did
not come about until F-77). The compiler also is slow and produces rather
inefficient code (nearly twice the size of VMS Fortran). The biggest problem
is that this version of F-77 will only allow unit numbers 0-9. This means that
the system will only allow 0-9 files to be open at any one time. The RIM
database system must be able to maintain around 15 open files. As such, I have
no way to build a successful DBMS with the current F-77 compiler.
While I have the C sources to the F-77 compiler, I am not a systems
programmer and the confines of the research project will not allow me to
start becoming one. Modifing the current compiler is therefore a distant
possibility. If at all possible, I need to find a better F-77 compiler.
While I understand that Fortran is not in favor under UNIX, surely the needs
of maintaining existing programs are being met with something.
So, if anybody out there has any experience with or knowledge of Fortran
under UNIX, I would appreciate some contact. We really do need to find a new
compiler, regardless of the source (commercial product, public domain, etc.).
Any help will be greatly appreciated.
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