My latest course just went live on LinkedIn. Introduction to Fortran: Learning Fortran - FORTRAN Video Tutorial | LinkedIn Learning, formerly Lynda.com
Awesome work @everythingfunctional, again congratulations! (I also had a meeting today about setting up an open source series of Lectures, it went okay)
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I looked at the Linux introductory section. It is clearly designed to help newbies but it suggests using sudo. That’s fine on my home computer but I am not allowed to use isudo on my university computer: the systems people there quite rightly prevent users fouling up the system for other users, either accidentally because they don’t know what they are doing or maliciously because they know only too well. Should “Learning Fortran” warn about such matters?
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Interesting point. While I think the use of sudo and it’s downsides is an important topic, I think it’s probably outside the scope of this kind of course. It’s much more of a systems administration topic. Also, in my experience, Linux users tend to be much more tech savvy and more interested in learning about these topics than other users, so I’m less worried about scaring those users off by omitting stuff like that. Thanks for the feedback though.
The three separate «Initial setup» videos are very good because they contain all bits and bolts that an IT administrator needs to provide the environment for this Fortran class: what is the compiler, what is the editor, where to get them .and. (not at least) to check everything needed is working right on the step.* It is concise to the point, with clear articulation.
In example for Linux, the font size the atom editor uses is a bit on the low size, though. If a larger font there yields a problem with screen estate, open the project column only when needed.
*) I once experienced the opposite for a commercial database where one library managing the access for multiple schools in the region. There, it required multiple back-and-forth because there is an additional Python API with a blend of modules from the standard library + numpy/pandas + specialized (non free) code; a minimal working example as Brad provides right at the beginning would have been very helpful. (Meanwhile, the database vendor improved the approach.)
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Turns out Atom is being archived: Sunsetting Atom | The GitHub Blog. Had you known that, VS Code may have been a better editor choice for the course, also with all the effort @gnikit has been putting into the Fortran extension.
Personally, I think both Atom and VS Code are still a bit difficult to use for beginners. Something like Notepad++ (Windows), TextMate (MacOS), and Gedit/Geany/Kate (Linux) would do the job as a basic text editor. The downside is that syntax highlighting for Fortran has not kept up with the language in any of these editors.
Bummer. I really liked Atom. The Fortran plugin for Atom, which at least uses fortls like the one for VSCode, has done a pretty good job for me. I’ve been thinking about making the switch to VSCode, now I guess I have to.
If I recall correctly, Geany (cross-platform, not only Linux) offered syntax highlighting for all the keywords Brad’s class presents and invites to train (with the exercise files), up and including e.g., intent(inout).