Some encouraging words for Fortran

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Great that he mentioned Fortran and that it is mentioned along with only two other languages. But the sum total of his words of encouragement are that he knows one person who uses it, and some companies are still using fortran programs written a long time ago.

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When I hear Fortran mentioned in a similar context, there’s often a “but” that echoes similar recurring sentiments :

  • but people only use it because they have to work with legacy codes
  • but people only use it in FIELD, so it’s not that widely applicable.
  • but it’s old (I think many people equate Fortran to the older standards they might’ve seen 30+ years ago. Fixed-form Fortran is still taught at some institutions because it’s what the instructors know, although I suppose it’s good to know fixed-form for when you inevitably run into other fixed-form codes)
  • but it’s hard to use (not sure where that comes from)
  • etc.

Of course, this has just been my experience.