[Info-vax] VSI Community License Program - x86

[Arne Vajhøj]

On 4/12/2023 8:18 AM, Simon Clubley wrote:
> On 2023-04-12, bill <bill.gunshannon at gmail.com> wrote:
>> On 4/11/2023 5:47 PM, Scott Dorsey wrote:
>>> bill  <bill.gunshannon at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>> On 4/10/2023 7:09 PM, Scott Dorsey wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>> Some of the stuff added in the layers after fortran90 have been
>>>>> messy, like pointers.  Engineers shouldn't be allowed to touch
>>>>> pointers.
>>>>
>>>> There are many things engineers should  not be allowed to touch.
>>>> Another would be writing business applications in Fortran.  But
>>>> that's probably a story for another time.  :-)
>>>
>>> I can understand how folks like quants who want to do real math might
>>> want to be using fortran for business applications.  Unfortunately it
>>> doesn't have money types, but you can always use integer and do some
>>> fancy stuff to add the decimal point.
>>
>> Not all business involves money.  Inventory, people, educational
>> data, etc.  But even without the money Fortran is not really the
>> right language for the job.
> 
> Agreed.
> 
> You need COBOL, DIBOL, or another language with decimal data types
> in order to do business applications. If, in 2023, you try writing
> a business application using floating point numbers, you don't
> understand the requirements for such applications.

Note that the issue is sort of a last century issue.

Fortran and C are exceptions today.

Most of the "newer" (as in post 1990!) languages support decimals:
- JVM languages - Java, Kotlin, Scala, Groovy
- .NET languages - C#, VB.NET, F#
- Delphi
- Python
- PHP (primitive but there)
etc.

I am sure there are plenty of C++ libraries with an Amount class
with decimal data and full operator overloading support.

Arne