Fortran

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Fortran is a high-level programming language that is widely used in scientific computing, engineering, and academic research. Developed by IBM in the 1950s, Fortran (short for "Formula Translation") was the first programming language designed to allow easy translation of mathematics into code. Over the decades, Fortran has evolved through various versions, each adding new features and capabilities to meet the growing demands of computational science.

History

The development of Fortran began in the early 1950s at IBM by a team led by John Backus. The goal was to create a programming language that could efficiently convert mathematical formulas into code, which was a significant challenge with the assembly languages used at the time. The first version, Fortran I, was released in 1957 and was quickly adopted for scientific and engineering calculations.

Subsequent versions, including Fortran II, Fortran IV, and Fortran 77, introduced improvements such as better control structures, input/output facilities, and the ability to handle character data. Fortran 90, a major revision released in 1991, added features like modules, array operations, and recursion, making the language more powerful and flexible. Fortran 95, 2003, 2008, and the latest version, Fortran 2018, have continued to add enhancements, including object-oriented programming, parallel computing features, and improved interoperability with the C programming language.

Features

Fortran is known for its efficiency in numerical computation and array manipulation, making it particularly suitable for applications involving heavy numerical calculations such as computational physics, chemistry, and engineering simulations. Key features of Fortran include:

• Strong support for array and matrix operations, which are essential in scientific computing.
• A rich set of intrinsic functions for mathematical, statistical, and matrix operations.
• The ability to define subroutines and functions for modular programming.
• Facilities for file input and output, enabling the handling of large data sets.
• Support for parallel computing, allowing the development of applications that can take advantage of multi-core processors and distributed computing environments.

Usage

Despite the emergence of newer programming languages, Fortran remains highly valued in scientific and engineering communities for its performance and the vast legacy of Fortran-based applications and libraries. It is commonly used in areas such as climate modeling, computational fluid dynamics, and numerical simulation of physical systems.

Current Status

Fortran continues to be developed and standardized by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). The Fortran 2018 standard, also known as ISO/IEC 1539-1:2018, includes several new features and improvements over its predecessors. The Fortran community remains active, with ongoing projects to develop new compilers, libraries, and tools to support modern computing architectures and paradigms.