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Path: ...!eternal-september.org!feeder3.eternal-september.org!news.eternal-september.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail From: Andy Walker <anw@cuboid.co.uk> Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.misc,alt.folklore.computers Subject: Re: The joy of FORTRAN Date: Fri, 27 Sep 2024 19:29:05 +0100 Organization: Not very much Lines: 34 Message-ID: <vd6thh$lf8o$2@dont-email.me> References: <pan$96411$d204da43$cc34bb91$1fe98651@linux.rocks> <5mqdnZuGq4lgwm_7nZ2dnZfqnPSdnZ2d@earthlink.com> <vcub5c$36h63$1@dont-email.me> <1r0e6u9.1tubjrt1kapeluN%snipeco.2@gmail.com> <vcuib9$37rge$5@dont-email.me> <6tDIO.25202$afc4.3071@fx42.iad> <vcva2s$3bcrt$6@dont-email.me> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Injection-Date: Fri, 27 Sep 2024 20:29:06 +0200 (CEST) Injection-Info: dont-email.me; posting-host="051688a0b0c9c41bdc1ae06742efb420"; logging-data="703768"; mail-complaints-to="abuse@eternal-september.org"; posting-account="U2FsdGVkX1/j783Y/kyhMc4KmBJy9V8O" User-Agent: Mozilla Thunderbird Cancel-Lock: sha1:3ecwaOiWX5skOsKo5lSJ3261qLQ= In-Reply-To: <vcva2s$3bcrt$6@dont-email.me> Content-Language: en-GB Bytes: 2922 On 24/09/2024 22:14, Lawrence D'Oliveiro wrote: [...] > It didn’t help that Algol-60 had nothing resembling standardized I/O > facilities, whereas these were an integral feature of both Fortran and > COBOL. This is true, but somewhat unfair if intended as a criticism of A60. The idea in those days was that each computer had its own Autocode, each with its own idiosyncrasies [Fortran being, in essence, IBM Autocode] and very little commonality. Algol was a project for the expression, in an agreed format, of algorithms. Thus, if you wanted to invert a matrix, or construct a spanning tree, or numerically solve an equation, you took down your trusty CACM or CompJ, found an appropriate approved algorithm, and transcribed that into your favourite Autocode. You weren't really expected to write complete programs in A60. That changed later. > This was remedied later in Algol-68, at the cost of adding a lot of > complexity. Formats were the only complicated part of A68 [and were commonly, in the early days, not implemented]. That apart, the transput was easier than in most languages, ancient and modern. The "print" routine took one parameter, a list of printable things [inc positioning], and printed them. If you didn't want the standard printing style, there were routines to turn numbers into strings in easy ways. People complained about the size of the A68 reports, but that was before they saw the modern C standards, which still don't define C in the sort of formality that A68 achieved. -- Andy Walker, Nottingham. Andy's music pages: www.cuboid.me.uk/andy/Music Composer of the day: www.cuboid.me.uk/andy/Music/Composers/Ganz