I asked ChatGPT about Fortran. The answers may reflect what is believed about Fortran on the Internet. I think the answers are pretty good, although Fortran now has decent support for OOP.
What are the strengths of the Fortran programming language?
Fortran (short for “Formula Translation”) is a general-purpose, compiled programming language that is especially suited to numerical and scientific computing. Some of the strengths of Fortran include:
High performance: Fortran is known for its fast execution speed, making it well-suited for numerical and scientific computations that require a lot of number-crunching.
Widely used in scientific and engineering fields: Fortran is the dominant programming language in many scientific and engineering fields, including physics, chemistry, and meteorology. It is also widely used in the field of finance for financial modeling.
Strong support for parallel processing: Fortran has strong support for parallel processing, making it easier to write code that can take advantage of multiple processors or compute nodes. This makes it well-suited for high-performance computing (HPC) applications.
Wide range of numerical libraries and tools: Fortran has a wide range of libraries and tools available for numerical computing, including linear algebra libraries, optimization libraries, and libraries for solving differential equations.
Long history and strong legacy: Fortran has a long history, with the first version of the language being developed in the 1950s. This means that there is a large body of existing Fortran code and a large community of users who can provide support and advice.
What are the weaknesses of the Fortran programming language?
Some of the weaknesses of the Fortran programming language include:
Limited support for modern programming paradigms: Fortran is primarily a procedural programming language, meaning that it is based on the idea of writing code as a sequence of steps to be executed in order. This can make it difficult to use modern programming paradigms, such as object-oriented programming or functional programming.
Lack of support for newer language features: Fortran has not undergone significant updates in recent years, and as a result, it lacks many of the newer language features that are found in more modern programming languages, such as garbage collection or support for lambda expressions.
Limited support for modern software development practices: Fortran does not have strong support for modern software development practices, such as unit testing or code refactoring. This can make it difficult to write and maintain large, complex Fortran codebases.
Limited use outside of scientific and engineering fields: Fortran is primarily used in scientific and engineering fields, and it is not as widely used in other areas of software development. This can make it difficult to find developers with Fortran experience, and it may be more difficult to find libraries and tools that are compatible with Fortran.
Limited support for modern development environments: Fortran has limited support for modern development environments, such as integrated development environments (IDEs) with features like code completion and refactoring tools. This can make it more difficult to write and debug Fortran code.