[Simh] Clem-Cole's Quora Answer - Why is Fortran Still in Use?

[Larry Baker]

Hey Clem,

I read your Quora answer "Why is Fortran Still in Use?" and wanted to read another post you made there about "Why did Unix succeed and not Multics?".  It wanted me to sign in with Google or Facebook.  I use neither.  Can you post a link here like you did for your Fortran post that I can use to read your Multics post?

When I started at USGS we had three Multics mainframes for scientific computing, one in Reston (Agency headquarters and Eastern Region headquarters), one in Denver (Central Region headquarters), and Menlo Park, where I am (Western Region headquarters).  They were abysmally slow and expensive.  Fortran was an afterthought.  We (the Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program) escaped Multics' clutches initially with our own PDP-11/70s, and later a VAX-11/780 (the first VAX in the USGS, later transformed into a VAX-11/785).  USGS was, I think, the last commercial (non-DoD) Multics installation to survive.  I know the commentary in the Bell Systems Journal special UNIX Time-Sharing System issue.  I'd be interested to read your take.

Thanks,

Larry Baker
US Geological Survey
650-329-5608
baker at usgs.gov



> On 29 Jan 2018, at 8:36:59 AM, simh-request at trailing-edge.com wrote:
> 
> Message: 4
> Date: Mon, 29 Jan 2018 11:00:28 -0500
> From: Clem Cole <clemc at ccc.com <mailto:clemc at ccc.com>>
> To: Timothe Litt <litt at ieee.org <mailto:litt at ieee.org>>
> Cc: "simh at trailing-edge.com <mailto:simh at trailing-edge.com>" <simh at trailing-edge.com <mailto:simh at trailing-edge.com>>
> Subject: Re: [Simh] DEC GEM vs. Intel compilers
> Message-ID:
> 	<CAC20D2MiGttKYaW+RxV9auYJGCxyxBo4n5mLhCf2T_mbXSkcdw at mail.gmail.com <mailto:CAC20D2MiGttKYaW+RxV9auYJGCxyxBo4n5mLhCf2T_mbXSkcdw at mail.gmail.com>>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
> 
> a tad OT for simh ...l
> 
>>> [See:  Clem-Cole's Quora Answer - Why
> is Fortran Still in Use
> <https://www.quora.com/Why-is-the-Fortran-language-still-in-use-and-most-importantly-relevant-in-HPC-Is-it-just-because-this-language-has-tremendous-numerical-calculation-capability-which-is-an-important-part-of-HPC/answer/Clem-Cole <https://www.quora.com/Why-is-the-Fortran-language-still-in-use-and-most-importantly-relevant-in-HPC-Is-it-just-because-this-language-has-tremendous-numerical-calculation-capability-which-is-an-important-part-of-HPC/answer/Clem-Cole>>
> ].
> 

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