Why Fortran? (Video)

In this video I answer the question (at least for me), “Why Fortran?”

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Hi @everythingfunctional, thanks for making the video. I also get the same question as you do when I tell people I work on a Fortran compiler.

My own attempts at expressing “Why Fortran” are in various forms at:

They all essentially agree with your video.

In some sense, you brought up the ultimate metric — once people stop asking you “why” when you mention Fortran, then we have succeeded. I already see quite a remarkable change — too little to change the ship / direction significantly, but nevertheless I see a change in just the past year. We have to keep doing what we are doing, and we’ll be able to get people excited about Fortran eventually.

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P.S. Almost forgot ---- congratulations on getting hired by Damian at the Sourcery Institute! I am very excited to see what both of you will be able to accomplish.

Thanks @certik. Yes, I’m excited to be working with Damian. I think we’re going to be able to do some fun and interesting things. And the community resurgence has (in my mind) been a dramatic sea change already. I’m certain you’ve played a significant part in that. And it’s a huge part of what made me confident that pursuing the career change would have a good chance at success. I like your point about that question being a metric. It’s a high hill to climb - I see C as the nearest example - but it will be a fun journey.

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Thanks for making this video about Fortran

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