Fernando:
Thank you very much for asking us about improvements to your proposed poll. I have some comments and recommendations below.
Sincerely,
Craig T. Dedo
17130 W. Burleigh Place
P. O. Box 423 Mobile Phone: (414) 412-5869
Brookfield, WI 53008-0423 E-mail: <[log in to unmask]>
USA
Linked-In: http://www.linkedin.com/in/craigdedo
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Fortran 90 List [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Fernando
> G. Tinetti
> Sent: Monday, March 26, 2012 16:32
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Fortran Poll
>
> (crossposted: comp.lang.fortran, comp-fortran-90)
>
> We are working since some time ago on Fortran Legacy software and we would like to
> characterize some important issues from researchers, Fortran software developers,
> Fortran standard meeting group members, etc. We are planning to start collecting
> data from an online poll starting by April 4th, Wednesday (via an URL we will
> announce). We already have some questions to include in the poll and we would like
> to know if you would suggest to change some of them and/or add some others.
>
> Thanks in advance,
>
> Fernando G. Tinetti
> Mariano Méndez
>
>
> Our current questions are:
>
<snip>
>
> 4) How many lines of code has the largest Fortran program which have you ever seen?
> 0 - 1K LOC
> 1 - 10K LOC
> 10 - 100K LOC
> 100K LOC - 1G LOC
> More than 1G LOC
The first 3 go up by a multiple of 10; the 4th by a multiple of 10,000. It would be better if you rewrote choice #4 as:
100K LOC - 1M LOC
1M LOC - 10M LOC
10M LOC - 100M LOC
100M LOC - 1G LOC
>
> 5) You have developed programs in Fortran for:
> Weather and climate modelling and forecasting
> Astrophysics
> Web applications
> Condensed matter and material designing
> Signal processing
> Computational mechanics
> Molecular dynamics
> CAD/CAM
> CFD
> FEM
> Surface Profile
> 3D Ground-water flow model
> Hydrology & Water Quality Water Bodies
> Dynamic Pipe Flow Distribution
> Ground Motions from Earthquakes
> Analog electronic circuit simulator
> Subsurface/reservoir flow
> Wave propagation
> Earth Simulator's multiphysics code
> Shock wave, solid mechanics models
> Quantum chemistry
> Linear algebra
> Computer performance evaluation
> AI
> Games
> GUIs
> Petroleum exploration/production
> Crystallography
> Databases/administrative systems
> Business Administration
> Text processing
> Other
Here are a few more application areas in which Fortran is used:
Financial analysis. Much of the financial analysis software in the major financial trading firms is written in Fortran.
Algorithm development
Manufacturing applications, e.g., Shop Floor Control, Communication with PLCs, Control of Automated Storage and Retrieval Systems (ASRS), Tracking Work-in-Process (WIP) through the Production Process, Warehousing, Manufacturing Simulation
<snip>
> 7)You program using Fortran because
> Fortan is the best language
> Fortran is the only language you know
> Fortran is the language used in your lab/corporation
> You need specific Fortran libraries (e.g. BLAS, NAG Fortran Library)
> You work on/with a legacy Fortran code
> other
Here are a few more reasons to use Fortran. Many of these are not very much appreciated in the language selection decision, but they do have tremendous impact on results.
Human (i.e., Programmer) Productivity, e.g., Function Points / Direct Labor Hour and similar measures.
Ease of understanding
Ease of use
Easy learning curve
High-powered syntax, in terms of how much you can accomplish in one or a few statements. High-powered features include: Whole-array operations, array section operations, user-defined operators, user-defined generics, etc.
<snip>
> 15)Compiler/s you use:
> Absoft
> Cray
> gfortran
> IBM xlf
> ifort
> Lahey
> NAGware f95
> Open64
> PGI Portland
> Other
You may wish to spell out ifort in full, i.e., "Intel Fortran"
<snip>
Cross-language Development.
You may wish to add Visual Basic.
Operating System / Platform.
You may wish to add a question about what operating system(s) the respondent is developing on / for. I would ask about these, as well as any other significant platforms:
OpenVMS
Windows
MacOS
Unixes. Include 5 or 6 of the most widely used Unix variants.
Industry.
You may wish to add a question about what industry or kind of firm the respondent is working in. The needs of for-profit commercial and industrial firms are often quite different from those in academia, non-profit organizations, or vendors of software products.
|