HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: jrp@mbunix.mitre.org (Prescott)
Subject: Re: Is FORTRAN a viable language?
Organization: The MITRE Corporation, Bedford, MA
Date: Wed, 30 Dec 1992 03:39:15 GMT

In article <1hqnn7INNfac@shelley.u.washington.edu> chew@accel.aa.washington.edu (Gilbert Chew) writes:
>Is FORTRAN dead?
>
>I myself program in FORTRAN, and I am hoping to 
>eventually purchase a FORTRAN compiler for my
>own PC (a 386-33, incidentally).
>
>However, while perusing the newsgroups for help
>and information in buying said compiler, I noticed
>that the C/C++ newsgroup seems to have about
>100 times the traffic of the FORTRAN newsgroup!
>

      ... Stuff deleted ...

>
>The ultimate question is, I guess, Should I even bother
>with the FORTRAN compiler?  Or should I make my main
>language C/C++?  Will there still be support for FORTRAN
>in 10 years?

FORTRAN is still being used heavily for numerical processing.
C and C++ are popular in the net world due to the newess of the 
languages.  Thoses communities are still wrestling with language
issues that were resolved long ago by the FORTRAN community.

You should, in my opinion, use the language that best fits your
needs and interests.  FORTRAN will be around in 10 years, especially
with the passage of the FORTRAN 9X standard, so that your FORTRAN
skills will not be wasted.  You should stay with FORTRAN if it meets 
your needs, and if it doesn't, switch.

Of course, you should probably be fluent in both languages !(:-)

Jon
From: sts6f@vortex.mech.virginia.edu (Sonya T. Smith)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.fortran
Subject: All I want for Xmas is the NAG library..........
Date: 21 Dec 92 14:20:59 GMT
Organization: University of Virginia

But seriously folks,  I would greatly appreciateit if someone would email to me
instructions on where and how to get the NAG library.  

Thanks in advance,
Sonya

-- 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
S.T. Smith                           |"I am afraid that I rather give myself
Department of Mechanical,            | away when I explain. Results without    
   Aerospace and Nuclear Engineering | causes are much more impressive"
University of Virginia               |
Charlottesville, VA 22901            | - Sherlock Holmes                       
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: gomme@monashee.sfu.ca (Paul Gomme)
Subject: Re: graphics in fortran
Organization: Dept. of Economics, Simon Fraser University
Date: Wed, 30 Dec 1992 00:43:05 GMT

In article <gyan.725659386@unixg.ubc.ca> gyan@unixg.ubc.ca (Gyan P. Sinha) writes:

[ request from jpeach@ac.dal.ca for GKS tools for DOS deleted]

>Watfor-77 by Watcom does have GKS. It's not a 32 bit compiler, so your
>code and data will have to be small. Their address is:

Of course, Watcom F77/386 also has GKS and _is_ a 32 bit compiler which
includes: its own DOS extender, OS/2 capabilities, and MS-Windows
capabilities.

Paul Gomme
Newsgroups: comp.lang.fortran
From: ercolessi@uimrl3.mrl.uiuc.edu (furio ercolessi)
Subject: RE: Common block problem with MS-FORTRAN
Reply-To: ercolessi@uimrl3.mrl.uiuc.edu (furio ercolessi)
Organization: MRL - UIUC
Date: Thu, 31 Dec 1992 01:47:36 GMT

In article <30DEC92.22452124@edison.usask.ca>, f54oguocha@edison.usask.ca writes:
|>
|>>DOS box using Microsoft FORTRAN 4.01 or 5.0.  I get the same message
|>>with either one:
|>> 
|>>actrep.for(21) : error F2379: DESCRI : item in common block crosses segment
|>>actrep.for(333) : error F2379: DESCRI : item in common block crosses segment
|>>...  What am I overlooking?
|>> 
|>>Thanks for any help.
|>>-Doug

|>one possible source of this type of error is the length of the continuation
|>line you inherited from your former program.

Rather, I guess that the original poster is hitting against some compiler
limit related with 80x86 architectures.  A "segment" is 64 kbytes in
these machines.  Having a common block within a segment clearly
makes addresses generation more efficient.

I never used 80x86s for Fortran work and cannot be of help: sorry!
I can only suggest to browse through all the compiler's options ...

--
Furio Ercolessi
Materials Research Laboratory           |   Intl School for Advanced Studies
Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign   |   Trieste, Italy
furio@uiuc.edu                          |   furio@sissa.it
From: f54oguocha@edison.usask.ca
Newsgroups: comp.lang.fortran
Subject: RE: Common block problem with MS-FORTRAN
Date: 30 DEC 92 22:45:21 GMT
Organization: University of Saskatchewan
NNTP-Posting-Host: edison.usask.ca


>DOS box using Microsoft FORTRAN 4.01 or 5.0.  I get the same message
>with either one:
> 
>actrep.for(21) : error F2379: DESCRI : item in common block crosses segment
>actrep.for(333) : error F2379: DESCRI : item in common block crosses segment
>...  What am I overlooking?
> 
>Thanks for any help.
>-Doug
one possible source of this type of error is the length of the continuation
line you inherited from your former program. so, check the length of your
continuation line and ensure it is not more than 15(to be safe). if you have
not used more than 15 continuation lines, then check the number of characters
you have used per line in the common block.make sure you've not got a "comma"
extending beyond the limit. if after all these the error continues croping up,
let us know.
oguocha
Newsgroups: comp.lang.fortran
From: eng10506@nusunix1.nus.sg (ANG KOCK TIONG)
Subject: database in fortran
Organization: National University of Singapore
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.1 PL6]
Date: Thu, 24 Dec 1992 06:42:00 GMT

D
D
D
Can somebody please teach me how to create a database and use it tsso
B
sas a file in fortran? What I mean is that, given a table of data like
properties of a steel column, how am I going to make it into a database
so that when in fortran I can CALL it in my program as a file .
I would very much appreciate your help. Thankyou!
HAVE A MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!
From: mac@cis.ksu.edu (Myron A. Calhoun)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.fortran
Subject: Re: f77 Compiler
Date: 3 Jan 93 17:56:16 GMT
Article-I.D.: depot.mac.726084057
Organization: Kansas State University
NNTP-Posting-Host: depot.cis.ksu.edu

hockbin@leland.Stanford.EDU (hock-bin lim) writes:
>	While compiling a program using f77 in the Unix environment, what 
>is the -option command to generate a listing file (with line number
>appended for debugging purposes?  What is the -option command to generate
>the variable statistics at the end of the "list" file?

To find compile-time errors in the easiest possible way, pipe the output
of the compiler through "error".  For example, to compile a file named
"xx.f", I type "ff xx" and (among other things) a script file substitutes
"xx" for each $1 in the following line:

   f77 -C -u -w -o .$1.x $1.f |& error -v -t .f

--Myron.
-- 
# We preserve our freedoms using four boxes:  soap, ballot, jury, and cartridge.
# Myron A. Calhoun, PhD EE; Assoc. Professor  (913) 539-4448 home
# INTERNET: mac@cis.ksu.edu (129.130.10.5)          532-6350 work, 532-7353 fax
#     UUCP: ...rutgers!depot!mac     Packet-BBS: W0PBV @ K0VAY.#NEKS.KS.USA.NAOM
Newsgroups: comp.lang.fortran
From: uesu03@giac1.oscs.montana.edu (Lou Glassy)
Subject: What user groups require BOZ-Literals in Fortran?
Organization: Montana State University, Bozeman  MT
Date: Sat, 2 Jan 1993 00:52:15 GMT

I use the phrase 'BOZ-Literal' to mean integer constants
specified in binary, octal, or hexadecimal form.  That is,
constants like

   B'00101101'

   O'377'

   Z'FFEF0020'

The question:  What programmers require constants specified in BOZ form?

I'm pondering whether to support BOZ literals in my subset
F90 translator.  My initial inclination is not to, since

   [a] my target audience for the compiler is beginning programmers, and

   [b] it appears (from quick-and-dirty estimates) that including
       BOZ literals will make the scanner state-transition table swell
       by 40 to 60 percent in size.  This would make verifying the scanner's
       correctness a bit yuckier.

However:  if some of you Fortran instructors out there can convince
me otherwise, I could include BOZ support.

Thanks,

Lou.
-- 
Lou Glassy (uesu03@giac1.oscs.montana.edu)

	"That was the equation!  Existence!...Survival 
	 must cancel out programming!"          -- Rok 
Newsgroups: comp.lang.fortran
From: bvaughan@sheps.Princeton.EDU (Barbara Vaughan)
Subject: Re: Is FORTRAN a viable language?
Originator: news@nimaster
Organization: Princeton University
Date: Wed, 30 Dec 1992 16:42:55 GMT

In article <1hqnn7INNfac@shelley.u.washington.edu> chew@accel.aa.washington.edu (Gilbert Chew) writes:
>Is FORTRAN dead?
>
>I myself program in FORTRAN, and I am hoping to 
>eventually purchase a FORTRAN compiler for my
>own PC (a 386-33, incidentally).
>
>However, while perusing the newsgroups for help
>and information in buying said compiler, I noticed
>that the C/C++ newsgroup seems to have about
>100 times the traffic of the FORTRAN newsgroup!
>

Have you seen the Mac commercial with three guys sitting at a help desk,
one supporting Mac users, the other two supporting Windows users?  Two of
the phones are ringing constantly, the other guy gets one call, which
turns out to be be a wrong number; the caller had a Windows question.

Seriously, the Internet is heavily dominated by Unix programmers, who are
much more likely to program in C than DOS programmers.  Fortran fills a
niche and is not likely to go away.  If it meets your needs, go on using
it.  If, on the other hand, you find yourself hampered by the constraints
of the language, look into other languages.  On a DOS platform, I would
check out Pascal.

Barbara Vaughan
From: doug@osprey.telcom.arizona.edu (Doug Wellington USGS)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.fortran
Subject: Common block problem with MS-FORTRAN
Keywords: segment boundaries common block
Date: 30 Dec 92 03:56:00 GMT
Distribution: world,local
Organization: University of Arizona Telecommunications
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41

I am trying to convert a program from UNIX to MS-DOS.  The program
compiles fine on a SPARC 1+, but I can't get it to compile on a 486
DOS box using Microsoft FORTRAN 4.01 or 5.0.  I get the same message
with either one:

actrep.for(21) : error F2379: DESCRI : item in common block crosses segment
actrep.for(333) : error F2379: DESCRI : item in common block crosses segment

I have looked in the manual, but the only thing I could come up with was:
"Placing all character variables at the end of a common block can make it
easier to avoid these conflicts."  Geez!  They ARE characters.

I have the large libraries installed, and have even tried compiling with
the /AH flag (Huge model) with the same result.  What am I overlooking?

Thanks for any help.
-Doug
From: roth@oasys.dt.navy.mil (Pete Roth)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.fortran
Subject: Re: Dynamic Memory Allocation in FORTRAN, Question
Date: 21 Dec 92 13:07:46 GMT
Reply-To: roth@oasys.dt.navy.mil (Pete Roth)
Organization: The David Taylor Model Basin

In comp.lang.fortran, xiong@spade.rutgers.edu (Xiong) writes:
>Hi, I am wondering if it is possible to allocate memory dynomically in
>FORTRAN as in C? I am loooking for something equivalent to:
>
>        int * a;
>        a = (int *) malloc (numx * sizeof (int));
>
>in C.
>
To complete the spectrum of answers, YES.

Well, sort of. Consider my article STORAGE MANAGEMENT AND OOP in "The Fortran
Journal," Vol 4 No 4, 1992 July/August. The full code for a Fortran storage
manager is presented therein, which might solve your problem.


regards, pete
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Peter N Roth      roth@oasys.dt.navy.mil
Do what you can with what you have where you are. - D L Moody.
From: i6finn@aud2.aud.auc.dk
Newsgroups: comp.lang.fortran
Subject: Open/close decreases free memory ?
Date: 29 Dec 92 15:56:45 GMT
Organization: Aalborg University Center, Denmark

Subj: OPEN/CLOSE in Lahey-F77 decreases free memory.

I have a large program which I must execute in DOS with 640 Kb,
so the program is divided into 3 exe-files (400 Kb each) which
are called from a main program. All data-exchange is done using
external files (disk).

Problem:
Each time a file is opened/closed from within the main program
1-2 Kb memory less is free. When using mem /c from DOS I can see that
it is the MAIN.EXE that increases in size. This means that data can
only be exchanged a limited number of times.

What could be wrong ???  

Setup: Standard IBM-486 PC, DOS 5.0, Lahey-F77L ver. 4.0

Help and suggestions are appreciated.  Thanks in advance ...

Please respond using E-mail - it takes 5 days (min.) before NEWS
gets to this site.

Finn M. Jensen
Department of Building Technology and Structural Engineering
Aalborg University     :    Phone: +45 98 15 85 22, Ext. 6649
Sohngaardsholmsvej 57  :    Fax: +45 98 14 82 43
DK-9000 Aalborg        :    E-mail: i6finn@aud.auc.dk
Denmark, Europe
From: tmw@festival.ed.ac.uk (Tom WRight)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.fortran
Subject: using system and error checking
Date: 23 Dec 92 10:39:15 GMT

I've written some fortran code (F77) using system

call system('rcp file host:')

Is there any way of checking the return error code

I've tried 

ier=system('rcp file host:')

but to no avail

thanks
Newsgroups: comp.lang.fortran
From: trauger@cray.com (Jimbo Trauger)
Subject: MS-FORTRAN
Organization: Cray Research, Inc.
Date: 22 Dec 92 12:40:56 CST


Hi, 
I just installed MS-FORTRAN and was doing the tutorial to get an understanding
of the programmers work bench.  I then tried to compile the first example they 
gave.  It failed like it was supposed to with syntax errors.  I then fixed the
errors and it would compile but not link.  I then created a simpler program with
just a write statement.  It also would not link.  It was telling me that it
could not find a library that does not exist.  I ran setup again in case I did
something wrong the first time.  It still did it so I ran setup a third time
but just adding the libraries section.  It still would not work.  I updated
my autoexec.bat and config.sys and also made tools.pre into tools.ini, so that
couldn't be my problem.  I was wondering if anyone has run into this problem.
Your reply via email would be much appreciated since I don't read rn, because
I just don't seem to find the time.
Thanks
Jim Trauger
Newsgroups: comp.lang.fortran
From: dodd@mycenae.cchem.berkeley.edu (Lawrence R. Dodd)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.fortran
Subject: Re: f77 Compiler
Date: 3 Jan 93 18:37:08 GMT
Article-I.D.: mycenae.DODD.93Jan3103708
	<mac.726084057@depot.cis.ksu.edu.cis.ksu.edu>
Organization: Dept of Chemical Engineering, Polytechnic Univ, NY, USA
NNTP-Posting-Host: mycenae.cchem.berkeley.edu
In-reply-to: mac@cis.ksu.edu's message of 3 Jan 93 17:56:16 GMT

>>>>> "Myron" == Myron A. Calhoun <mac@cis.ksu.edu> writes:
  Myron> NNTP-Posting-Host: depot.cis.ksu.edu

  Myron> hockbin@leland.Stanford.EDU (hock-bin lim) writes:
>	While compiling a program using f77 in the Unix environment, what 
>is the -option command to generate a listing file (with line number
>appended for debugging purposes?  What is the -option command to generate
>the variable statistics at the end of the "list" file?

  Myron> To find compile-time errors in the easiest possible way, pipe the output
  Myron> of the compiler through "error".  For example, to compile a file named
  Myron> "xx.f", I type "ff xx" and (among other things) a script file substitutes
  Myron> "xx" for each $1 in the following line:

  Myron>    f77 -C -u -w -o .$1.x $1.f |& error -v -t .f

Actually, the easiest possible way to find fortran compile-time
errors/warnings is to use the compile command in GNU emacs. It allows you to
step through all the compilation errors one at a time while pointing to the
offending lines of code in the file(s). It was one of the primary reasons I
started to use GNU emacs. (Advertisement Ends)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.fortran
From: ritley@uimrl7.mrl.uiuc.edu ()
Subject: SPECIFIC Question about Fortran  (vs. C)
Reply-To: ritley@uiucmrl.bitnet ()
Organization: Materials Research Lab
Date: Wed, 30 Dec 1992 18:32:34 GMT


In the recent discussion regarding whether or not Fortran is dead,
the following comment piqued my curiosity:

From: mjl@dino.ph.utexas.edu (Maurice J. LeBrun)

>... Fortran (which translates very efficiently into machine
>language) has stayed preeminent in numerical computing. 

Although I could probably hunt down references about this in the
library, I'd like to ask:  Do the standards which define Fortran
actually specify the type of machine code to be generated?  Do 
they specify, for example, _how_ a square root should be computed,
or rather the accuracy with which it should be computed, or
possibly none of these things?  

In particular, although standard programs will compile on standard
compilers, is there anything in the published Fortran standard
which discusses the numerical results which standard programs are
expected to output (excluding issues like number of loop
iterations)?

[ If so, then might anyone know if 'C' similarly is written to conform
to such standards. ]
From: marby@laura.harvard.edu (Craig Marby)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.fortran
Subject: Re: A VMS Fortran I/O question
Date: 2 Jan 93 21:14:38 GMT
Organization: Chemistry Dept., Harvard University
In-reply-to: ercolessi@uimrl3.mrl.uiuc.edu's message of 31 Dec 92 02:08:48 GMT

>>>>> On 31 Dec 92 02:08:48 GMT, ercolessi@uimrl3.mrl.uiuc.edu (furio ercolessi) said:

furio> Does anybody know (well, Steve Lionel certainly knows, but maybe
furio> he's in holiday ...) what should I do to kill the carriage control character 
furio> on the standard output in VMS Fortran ?

furio> That is, I would like to be able to code something like
furio>       PRINT '(a)','Hello'
furio> instead of
furio>       PRINT '(1x,a)','Hello'
furio> in order to bring the code back and forth between Unix and VMS and 
furio> retain the same behavior

How about the following solution.

1. Create a temporary mailbox (pick your own name)
2. Assign logical FOR$PRINT to point to this mailbox.
3. Set up a write-attention AST on the mailbox using a SYS$QIO.
4. Wait for a PRINT statement to be executed.
5. Every time your AST is called (which will be line by line) read
   the line out of the mailbox and add an extra space at the
   beginning. You can then send it to where ever you want (you may
   want to determine this prior to step 1).

The above solution seems viable to me (and I have implemented
something similiar). It enables you, for example, to count the number
of lines written to a particular device. The above does involve some
non-trivial VMS specific coding however.

Hope this helps.
--

    __o         
  _ \<,_       Craig A. Marby    marby@layla.harvard.edu
 (_)/ (_)      
~~~~~~~~~~
Newsgroups: comp.lang.fortran
From: pt@geovision.gvc.com (Paul Tomblin)
Subject: Re: Real Programmers
Reply-To: pt@geovision.gvc.com
Organization: Not officially GeoVision Systems Inc., Ottawa, Ontario
Date: Sat, 19 Dec 1992 03:47:06 GMT

D.Love@daresbury.ac.uk (Dave Love) writes:

>>>>>> On 16 Dec 92 14:03:07 GMT, dodd@mycenae.cchem.berkeley.edu (Lawrence R. Dodd) said:
> > so are we agreed that the final version would be the following?
> > 85367 FORMAT(100(3H:-))/22HFOR THE HUMOR-IMPARED.)
> >       WRITE(6,85367)
>No.
>24HFOR THE HUMOUR-IMPAIRED.

When I last programmed in FORTRAN in anger, it was more like:

      INTEGER A(6),B
      DATA    A /'FOR ','THE ','HUMO','UR-I','MPAI','RED.'/
      DATA    B /':-) '/

      WRITE(6,85367) B,A
85367 FORMAT(1X,A3/1X,A24)

(FORTRAN-Hext on MVS/SP.  JCL/JES3, TSO, SPF - all that fun)

(I know I forgot a lot in the intervening years - I'm just here because
somebody on alt.folklore.computers said to check it out)

-- 
Paul Tomblin, pt@compass.gvc.com
(This is not an official opinion/statement of GeoVision Systems Inc.)
"Ok dear, want me to call the bike shop and see if they'll sponsor your
mid-life crisis?" "Yeah.  Ask them if they'll upgrade my shifters, too"
Newsgroups: comp.lang.fortran
From: walt@netcom.com (Walt Brainerd)
Subject: Re: Obscure fortran question
Organization: Netcom - Online Communication Services  (408 241-9760 guest) 
Date: Wed, 23 Dec 1992 00:13:21 GMT

In article <tubetf0@sgi.sgi.com>, "John C. Ruttenberg" <rutt@paradise.mti.sgi.com> writes:
> 
> 
> Suppose the do variable is assigned above the loop and used in the second
> expression of a do.  Should its value there be:
> 
>     1. Its value above the loop, or
> 
>     2. The value of the first expression in the do?
> 
1 is the correct answer.  The standard (Fortran 90) says that
step one of executing a do loop is to evaluate the expressions
for the initial value, terminal value, and increment (if any).
Step two is two initialize the DO variable.

   i=10
   do i = 1,i
     ...
is executed 10 times.

The words in the Fortran 77 standard are similar, I am sure,
but I didn't check it.
-- 
Walt Brainerd                walt@netcom.com
Unicomp, Inc.                +1-415-949-4052
235 Mt. Hamilton Ave.        +1-415-949-4058 (fax)
Los Altos, CA 94022 USA      "F90--Fortran for the '90s"
Newsgroups: comp.lang.fortran
From: lionel@quark.enet.dec.com (Steve Lionel)
Subject: Re: graphics in fortran
Reply-To: lionel@quark.enet.dec.com (Steve Lionel)
Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation, Nashua NH
Date: Tue, 29 Dec 1992 17:53:13 GMT


In article <1992Dec29.113206.9790@ac.dal.ca>, jpeach@ac.dal.ca writes:
|>
|>I am going to be writing  a program in fortran that is going
|>to require some basic graphics ability.  What I want to be able
|>to do is to draw some line graphics in two dimensions.  I am
|>finding it difficult to locate a tool that woill add me in doing
|>this in fortran.  It has be be some type of standard so that
|>the software can be compiled on the IBM PC, MAC and the VMS
|>computers.  I discovered there is a standard called GKS
|>(Graphics Kernaling System)  It will do everything that I want
|>it to but I cannot find a company that sells it.  Can anyone
|>tell me were I can get this software tool or any other tools
|>that will work.  Please e-mail me at JPEACH@ac.dal.ca or
|>post a message here.  Thanks.
|> 

Digital sells a GKS package for VMS, called DEC GKS-3D for VMS V1.2;
it is available both as a developer's kit and in a run-time only form, useful
if you will be distributing your application on more than one VMS system.

			Steve
--

Steve Lionel                    lionel@quark.enet.dec.com
SDT Languages Group
Digital Equipment Corporation
110 Spit Brook Road
Nashua, NH 03062