Fortran popular imagery
Diagnostic
I have browsed the 77 Fortran Wikipedia pages (Fortran - Wikidata) and counted the images:
- 28 programmers reference manuals (IBM 704)
- 24 punched cards + 3 coding forms to prepare punched cards
- 15 “F” logos (Fortran-lang logo)
- 12 IBM 704 computers
- 5 Fortran 77 listings
- 2 John Backus portraits
- 1 BSD terminal with the Fortran 77 man page
- 1 genealogy tree Algol & Fortran family (& Cobol)
- 1 NEC Earth Simulator ES2
Fortran suffers from a poor image. IBM 704 and punched cards are ruling. Happily there are 15 Fortran-lang logos, but most of the time it is still the IBM 704 reference manual which is used as a logo. The Japanese page saves the honor with the only modern supercomputer picture! And the figure of John Backus, Fortran’s father, is honored only in two pages…
Fortran needs a new imagery!
What the community can do
We should have a reflection about the usage of images in the Wikipedia encyclopedia. Our objective is not to wipe out the past, but to find an equilibrium between past, present and future of the Fortran language. And an equilibrium between mere illustrations and pictures bringing more comprehension of the features of the language.
Let’s start especially discussions about:
- Punched cards: those pictures can be useful to understand the fixed form format. They can be kept or we can decide that the reader can click on the “Punched card” Wikipedia page to see what it was.
- Some other pictures are only there to illustrate the article but don’t bring more comprehension about the language: I think the IBM 704 reference manual picture does not bring much to the reader. It can be put in references. The IBM 704 computer picture is in the same category, but we could imagine to put just below a picture of a modern supercomputer running a Fortran simulation to show the contrast, and also the perenniality of Fortran.
- I think John Backus should be honored, like Guido van Rossum on the Python page. In the French page, I have added File:John Backus 2.jpg - Wikimedia Commons with the legend “John Backus, inventor of Fortran, 1977 A.M. Turing Award laureate.”
- The Algol&Fortran family graph File:Algol&Fortran family-by-Borkowski.svg - Wikimedia Commons could be updated with the latest standards and languages. The graphviz source code is available.
- I have kept the Fortran 77 listing picture File:Ftn-elim-1240x1709.jpg - Wikimedia Commons but put it next to a modern Fortran code example (in the text) to illustrate the differences between legacy and modern code.
- Should we put visualizations of a big simulation (climate ?) to illustrate the applications of Fortran?
Let’s add new Fortran pictures in Wikimedia Commons
The Wikipedia pictures all come from the Wikimedia Commons database, where you can upload your own files under a free license or choose public domain: Login required - Wikimedia Commons
At the moment, if you type “Fortran” in Wikimedia Commons you will find the above cited pictures, but also mostly covers of old Fortran reports: Search results for "fortran" - Wikimedia Commons
Many picture formats are accepted but for diagrams vectorial formats are better because they can be easily modified or updated by other users.
Some ideas:
- a modern Fortran program in a modern IDE: Eclipse/Photran, Visual Studio Code…
- Scientific visualizations of Fortran results.
- Diagrams to illustrate features of the language: modules and submodules, coarrays, ordering of elements in an array… You can look in your Fortran books to find some inspiration. There is generally not many diagrams in Fortran books, but still a few.
Share here the links to your uploaded files so that everybody can use them (or not) in their national Wikipedia page (or on other Fortran related sites).