# Anecdotal Fortran... :-) **URL:** \ **Category:** Uncategorized\ **Created:** [February 11, 2021, 5:58pm UTC](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/t/anecdotal-fortran/704 "2021-02-11T17:58:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![vmagnin](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/fortran-lang.discourse.group/vmagnin/32/28_2.png) [@vmagnin](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/u/vmagnin)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2021, 1:15pm UTC](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/t/anecdotal-fortran/704/63 "2021-04-04T13:15:56Z")
> [@septc](#): > > I wonder if these places (or roads) were named by some people with computer languages really in mind, or they just “picked up” some words that may look nice for roads In the case of Fortran in France, nothing to do with the language. Just an homonym… In the case of Wales, it’s in Cardiff which has an university, although those roads seem far away of the university. ---
**Author:** ![Beliavsky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ba8739/32.png) [@Beliavsky](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/u/Beliavsky)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2021, 2:36pm UTC](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/t/anecdotal-fortran/704/64 "2021-04-05T14:36:08Z")
[Cray-3 Supercomputer Systems (1993)](http://archive.computerhistory.org/resources/access/text/2010/02/102685990-05-01-acc.pdf) There are cool pictures of Cray machines. Pages 14 and 16 mention that there were Cray compilers for C, Fortran 77, and a subset of Fortran 90. Cray is now part of Hewlett Packard Enterprise. [Current compiler](https://pubs.cray.com/bundle/Cray_Fortran_Reference_Manual_100_S-3901_Fortran_ditaval.xml/page/About_the_Cray_Fortran_Reference_Manual.html) ---
**Author:** ![billlong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/71e660/32.png) [@billlong](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/u/billlong)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2021, 1:16pm UTC](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/t/anecdotal-fortran/704/66 "2021-04-06T13:16:35Z")
Cray went through phases of being independent, part of SGI, independent again, and, most recently, part of HPE. Throughout, the “Cray” Fortran compiler has continued to evolve with new standards and added support for things like GPU’s and the ARM-SVE processors made by Fujitsu. The current compiler version is essentially F2018 compliant. The coarray parallel model has been part of the compiler since the T3E days in the 1990’s. As pmk noted, the Cray C-90 was a reliable, though expensive, machine that had a human-understandable hardware instruction set. That tradition continued with subsequent vector machines, such as the T90 (which added IEEE floating point hardware), the X1/X1E (added distributed memory parallelism) and the X2, the last of the line, and my favorite in terms of network integration and easy-to-understand hardware instructions. ---
**Author:** ![khaors](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/fortran-lang.discourse.group/khaors/32/288_2.png) [@khaors](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/u/khaors)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2021, 5:02pm UTC](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/t/anecdotal-fortran/704/67 "2021-04-07T17:02:19Z")
A couple of videos of the band Fortran 5 [![](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/free1/uploads/fortran_lang/original/1X/80964ec153d24293ace85b4d640f78c0e7fdc9b9.jpeg "Fortran 5 - Heart on the Line") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPyEZcNfucg) [![](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/free1/uploads/fortran_lang/original/1X/ffbcc4d4a204b7278d7096925b4c5c24b2ef218a.jpeg "Fortran 5 - Love Baby") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=557Npb85Emo) [![](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/free1/uploads/fortran_lang/original/1X/0d04d52b20cccac5d04245b4abd2cf3b94e665a0.jpeg "Fortran 5 - J R Hartley") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQ9sF9Sa-wI) ---
**Author:** ![nbehrnd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e0b2c6/32.png) [@nbehrnd](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/u/nbehrnd)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2021, 7:41pm UTC](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/t/anecdotal-fortran/704/68 "2021-04-07T19:41:40Z")
_A FORTRAN Coloring Book_ by Kaufman, you possibly refer to [this entry](https://archive.org/details/9780262610261/mode/2up) on [archive.org](http://archive.org). ---
**Author:** ![Harper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5ac83/32.png) [@Harper](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/u/Harper)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2021, 8:16am UTC](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/t/anecdotal-fortran/704/69 "2021-04-10T08:16:54Z")
Fortran may be the only language to have an asteroid but Algol has a star (beta Persei according to Norton’s Star Atlas, which says its name means the Demon Star because it’s variable). But the star’s name appeared centuries before the language did. ---
**Author:** ![vmagnin](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/fortran-lang.discourse.group/vmagnin/32/28_2.png) [@vmagnin](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/u/vmagnin)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2021, 2:48pm UTC](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/t/anecdotal-fortran/704/70 "2021-04-12T14:48:03Z")
A 90’s Fortran quiz: [https://www.netfunny.com/rhf/jokes/92q1/fortquiz.html](https://www.netfunny.com/rhf/jokes/92q1/fortquiz.html) ---
**Author:** ![everythingfunctional](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/fortran-lang.discourse.group/everythingfunctional/32/176_2.png) [@everythingfunctional](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/u/everythingfunctional)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2021, 4:35pm UTC](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/t/anecdotal-fortran/704/71 "2021-04-12T16:35:34Z")
Funny. Also, I scored 68. ---
**Author:** ![vmagnin](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/fortran-lang.discourse.group/vmagnin/32/28_2.png) [@vmagnin](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/u/vmagnin)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2021, 5:08pm UTC](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/t/anecdotal-fortran/704/72 "2021-04-12T17:08:09Z")
I scored 65 (over 70 point). I lost 5 points in question 3… ---
**Author:** ![vmagnin](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/fortran-lang.discourse.group/vmagnin/32/28_2.png) [@vmagnin](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/u/vmagnin)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2021, 7:58pm UTC](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/t/anecdotal-fortran/704/73 "2021-04-12T19:58:08Z")
Python and Fortran share something: both are divine. - Python was Gaia’s son: [Python (mythology) - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Python_(mythology)) - Fortran’s father is [Backus](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/t/john-backus-1924-2007-fortrans-father/873), and Bacchus is the roman name of [Dionysus](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dionysus), a son of Zeus and a god of many things. One of his epithets was Dimetor Διμητωρ _(“Twice-Born”)_ and refers to Dionysus’ two births (Fortran I and Fortran 90?). He was also said to be young and old, _“the older and the younger of all gods”._ ---
**Author:** ![Beliavsky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ba8739/32.png) [@Beliavsky](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/u/Beliavsky)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2021, 3:44pm UTC](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/t/anecdotal-fortran/704/74 "2021-04-16T15:44:10Z")
> [@Beliavsky](#): > > [Real Programmers Don’t Use Pascal](https://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/real.programmers.html) (1983) > It was largely due to the efforts of thousands of Real Programmers working for NASA that our boys got to the moon and back To be specific, [searching the NASA Technical Report Service for the earliest Fortran documents](https://ntrs.nasa.gov/search?q=fortran&sort=%7B%22field%22:%22published%22,%22order%22:%22asc%22%7D&keyword=FORTRAN) gives results like this: [Processing of lunar television pictures and _Fortran_ programs for processing computations on digital computer](https://ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/19650007613)(1962) [Astronomical integration code - _fortran_ solution of space mechanics - computer program](https://ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/19630001662)(1963) [Fortran computer program for gas-liquid partition chromatography data processing](https://ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/19630011239)(1963) The documents list the codes. ---
**Author:** ![vmagnin](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/fortran-lang.discourse.group/vmagnin/32/28_2.png) [@vmagnin](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/u/vmagnin)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2021, 8:18am UTC](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/t/anecdotal-fortran/704/75 "2021-04-17T08:18:15Z")
Do you remember the days when there was not only search engines but also directories? There was the _Open Directory Project (ODP)_ also known as _[DMOZ](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DMOZ)_. It is still alive (or reborn) and is now known as _Curlie_, and this is the Fortran directory: > **[Curlie - Computers: Programmin­g: Languages: Fortran](https://www.curlie.org/en/Computers/Programming/Languages/Fortran/)** > > Collector of URLs ---
**Author:** ![mfurquan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e47c2d/32.png) [@mfurquan](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/u/mfurquan)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2021, 10:40am UTC](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/t/anecdotal-fortran/704/76 "2021-04-17T10:40:04Z")
Guy Steele Jr. designed an language, now discontinued, intended for HPC. It was called Fortress, implying a secure replacement for Fortran. Sometimes, I feel Fortran is like a grandad blessed with elixir of life. Destined to see death of many of his children. ---
**Author:** ![vmagnin](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/fortran-lang.discourse.group/vmagnin/32/28_2.png) [@vmagnin](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/u/vmagnin)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2021, 12:01pm UTC](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/t/anecdotal-fortran/704/77 "2021-04-17T12:01:42Z")
Like C, every week a new language pretends to replace it. But C is still at the top of the TIOBE index. ---
**Author:** ![interkosmos](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/fortran-lang.discourse.group/interkosmos/32/296_2.png) [@interkosmos](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/u/interkosmos)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2021, 5:44pm UTC](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/t/anecdotal-fortran/704/79 "2021-04-18T17:44:24Z")
[CYBERNETIC LANDSCAPES](https://github.com/aaron-marcus/cybernetic-landscapes) (1971): Fortran program for displaying a virtual reality environment on an [LDS-1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LDS-1_%28Line_Drawing_System-1%29). ![pic](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/free1/uploads/fortran_lang/original/1X/015cb9fec08775217a3bf173a8a6e190c861e8fd.jpeg) ---
**Author:** ![vmagnin](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/fortran-lang.discourse.group/vmagnin/32/28_2.png) [@vmagnin](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/u/vmagnin)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2021, 7:36pm UTC](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/t/anecdotal-fortran/704/80 "2021-04-18T19:36:22Z")
@interkosmos , thanks for sharing. I was also impressed by the text [SWI.V1.CybLandscp3.311213.pdf](https://github.com/aaron-marcus/cybernetic-landscapes/blob/master/SWI.V1.CybLandscp3.311213.pdf), linking that program to poetry. And the graphics reminds me of the [Vectrex game console](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vectrex). If someone is interested to try to port that program to [gtk-fortran](https://github.com/vmagnin/gtk-fortran/wiki), I could help with the GTK part. We are missing the definitions of the subroutines, but for the drawing ones we can guess what they do: ```fortran CALL POS(IX(N),0,IZ(N)) ... CALL DRAWTR(0,IY(N),0) ... CALL DRAWT(-131071,0,131071) ``` I have found an animated gif here: > **[Aaron Marcus, Cybernetic Landscapes (1973)](http://creativecodingmadrid.com/cybernetic-landscapes-aaron-marcus-1971-1973)** and an interview here: [![](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/free1/uploads/fortran_lang/original/2X/1/194db30ac58f483daf0d2dde20968302eb011def.jpeg "Oral History of Aaron Marcus") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-5RM97_0M0) ---
**Author:** ![interkosmos](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/fortran-lang.discourse.group/interkosmos/32/296_2.png) [@interkosmos](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/u/interkosmos)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2021, 10:21am UTC](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/t/anecdotal-fortran/704/81 "2021-04-19T10:21:58Z")
@vmagnin: The rendering is probably the easiest part. But without documentation on the LDS-1 and its FORTRAN IV library, figuring out the inner workings of subroutines like `DTABLE()` or `MAKMT2()` is quite difficult. ---
**Author:** ![Beliavsky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ba8739/32.png) [@Beliavsky](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/u/Beliavsky)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2021, 12:31pm UTC](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/t/anecdotal-fortran/704/82 "2021-05-03T12:31:11Z")
From [The art of solving problems with Monte Carlo simulations](https://ggcarvalho.dev/posts/montecarlo/) Generate uniform deviates until their sum exceeds one. The average number of deviates needed is Euler’s number, e. [Proof](https://www.nsgrantham.com/sum-over-one). ``` program main ! simulate Euler's number, e implicit none integer, parameter :: nsim = 10000000, niter = 10 integer :: i,iter,j,nsum(nsim) real :: xsum,xran call random_seed() do iter=1,niter do i=1,nsim xsum = 0.0 j = 0 do j = j + 1 call random_number(xran) xsum = xsum + xran if (xsum > 1.0) exit end do nsum(i) = j end do print*,sum(nsum)/real(nsim) end do print*,exp(1.0)," true" end program main ``` output: ``` 2.71822739 2.71828914 2.71854210 2.71806741 2.71793246 2.71829391 2.71816230 2.71832871 2.71852446 2.71853471 2.71828175 true ``` ---
**Author:** ![Arjen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Arjen](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/u/Arjen)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2021, 1:18pm UTC](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/t/anecdotal-fortran/704/83 "2021-05-03T13:18:03Z")
That reminds me of [Buffon’s needle](https://mathworld.wolfram.com/BuffonsNeedleProblem.html), where you can use a Monte Carlo simulation to determine the value of pi. (Tricky part: do not use cos() and sin(), as that implicitly means you have to use pi before you have estimated it) ---
**Author:** ![vmagnin](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/fortran-lang.discourse.group/vmagnin/32/28_2.png) [@vmagnin](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/u/vmagnin)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2021, 1:25pm UTC](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/t/anecdotal-fortran/704/84 "2021-05-03T13:25:59Z")
Yes, that’s in the cited link: [The art of solving problems with Monte Carlo simulations | Gabriel Carvalho](https://ggcarvalho.dev/posts/montecarlo/) (first example) I am playing with that for one week, and will soon make a post. Note that the precision is like \frac{1}{\sqrt{N}}, so it’s a very inefficient algorithm to compute \pi… [Previous page](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/t/anecdotal-fortran/704.md?page=3) [Next page](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/t/anecdotal-fortran/704.md?page=5)