Fortran and stuff (was: Image format libraries, raytracers and stuff)

[Stewart Gordon]

James Dunne wrote:
<snip>
> Well, one can hardly blame Fortran for its age now... Still, it has its 
> uses; and that is for people who aren't necessarily programmers by 
> nature.  For instance, those in engineering and physics fields find it a 
> very powerful language in which to express complicated mathematical models.

I've seen statements to the contrary.

http://www.fortranstatement.com/cgi-bin/petition.pl

"Scientists of all domains struggle to stay current in their own fields, 
and the notion that they must also master the arcane concepts of a 700 
page reference from another science entirely is neither practical nor 
appropriate."

And I'm still curious about what was going on in the brain of F90's 
inventor when he/she/it decided to keep such things as a hard limit on 
line lengths.

> However, built-in vector arithmetic is something D would certainly 
> enjoy, especially in the context of multimedia development!  Intrinsics 
> anyone?

Walter intended including it in D, but then withdrew it.  But see

http://www.digitalmars.com/d/archives/digitalmars/D/16647.html

I *believe* it'll be back after 1.0 is out.

I reckon D could one day supersede Fortran....

Stewart.

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