[Info-vax] [OT] Current students apparently can't read Fortran code...

[Bob Gezelter]

On Wednesday, April 13, 2022 at 4:10:22 PM UTC-4, Simon Clubley wrote:
> From https://www.theregister.com/2022/04/13/climate_mit_fortran/ 
> 
> |CLiMA made the determination that old climate models, many of which were 
> |built 50 years ago and coded in Fortran, had to go if there was going to be 
> |any progress toward better climate models. Now that he's working at MIT on 
> |the CGC project, he's realized that "traditional climate models are in a 
> |language [MIT] students can't even read." 
> 
> Can't read the latest symbol-based (instead of word-based) language 
> without lots of study ? Ok, that's a fair thing to say. 
> 
> But Fortran ??? Wow. 
> 
> (And this is MIT!). 
> 
> Simon. 
> , b
> -- 
> Simon Clubley, clubley at remove_me.eisner.decus.org-Earth.UFP 
> Walking destinations on a map are further away than they appear.
Simon,

I agree wholeheartedly with Bill. 

FORTRAN, specifically ANSI FORTRAN-66/77 is a very simple language to lean by present standards.

If the story is not total BS, particularly from MIT students, it is a source of despair.

Today, it is no problem to do a module by module rewrite of FORTRAN into C. Frankly, it has not been a serious difficulty since the time of the original VAX FORTRAN, nearly a half century ago.

I would suggest they contact someone who is familiar with the subject matter.

- Bob Gezelter, http://www.rlgsc.com