FORTRAN as a Programming Language
The FORTRAN programming language was conceived in the early 1950s the
name produced from the two words FORmula TRANslation. In 1966 the language
was standardized and FORTRAN IV was born.
Revision of the language led to FORTRAN 77, the language we use today. The
standard for FORTRAN 90 is now available although not yet in widespread
use. F77 is a subset of F90.
FORTRAN was designed for scientists and engineers, and has dominated
this field. For the past 30 years FORTRAN has been used for such projects
as the design of bridges and aeroplane structures, it is used for factory
automation control, for storm drainage design, analysis of scientific data
and so on.
Throughout the life of this language, groups of users have written libraries
of useful standard FORTRAN programs.
These programs can be borrowed and used by other people who wish to take
advantage of the expertise and experience of the authors, in a similar way
in which a book is borrowed from a library.
The individual user may wish to build up their own library of routines they often use.
| Course structure. |
|---|
Work your way through the following components attempting the exercises as you come across them: |