[Info-vax] FORTRAN use, was: Re: Whither VMS?

[P. Sture]

In article <haqahp$6rp$1 at news.eternal-september.org>,
 Simon Clubley <clubley at remove_me.eisner.decus.org-Earth.UFP> wrote:

> On 2009-10-09, Bob Eager <rde42 at spamcop.net> wrote:
> >
> > I was always amazed at the amount of stuff written in FORTRAN. I used 
> > something for monitoring users' terminals, and that was in FORTRAN.
> >
> 
> :-)
> 
> I think the use of FORTRAN, regardless of platform, must have been a
> custom/tradition at one time.

It was the main (or do I mean most popular?) language used for 
scientific computing when the VAX came out.

> [My first system watchdog type program, which I wrote when I was about
> 16, was written in Fortran IV. (This was the early 1980's).]
> 

FORTRAN 77 brought character variables and suddenly became more viable 
(at least for me in the VMS world) for business programs. I got my hands 
on it circa 1981 and immediately converted my programs to use character 
variables rather than byte arrays, to make them more maintainable.

-- 
Paul Sture