fortran?

[mikeinmd81]

I'm interested in fortran, and will take some classes, but wanted to know which programming language is the closest to fortran?

 

[xwb]

It depends on which version of Fortran you're thinking of.

Fortran IV and Fortran 77, probably BASIC in terms of facilities. They also have Fortran specific goodies like arithmetic ifs, common blocks (Coral66), formats (C), multiple precision arithmetic (C), namelists that you may not find in the language you are using.

Fortran 90, 95, 2003 possibly Pascal or C in terms of facilities. They also have Fortran specific goodies which you won't find anywhere else like array processing.

Easiest way to learn is to pick a problem and try programming it. There are quite a few free compilers about.

 

[ArkM]

IMHO, the only true child of Fortran was unforgettable PL/I (magnificent hybrid of Fortran, Algol 60 and Cobol.
Fortran 2003 is nearer to C++ than C (if you can ignore monstrous Fortran new generations syntax, of course...

 

[xwb]

Actually, if you want to learn Fortran, don't start from another language and then switch to Fortran. You'll just get muddled. It is like listening to Yoda speaking English with a German syntax in Star Wars.

If you get the Salford/Silverfrost compiler, it has a decent enough IDE called Plato3 which will help you in most things.

 

[DAG12345]

What do other IDE's offer that PLATO3 doesn't? Because I am using plato3 now and I'am wandering if there is better. I am also formiliar with Absoft, but I can't really tell the difference.