From Newsgroup: comp.lang.fortran

Short documentary streamed in 1982 for the 25th anniversary of FORTRAN.

Documentary:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXvyjbWkTyU

John Backus and other FORTRAN creators speaking about the development of
the language and the compiler.

Preserved written history of FORTRAN:
https://softwarepreservation.computerhistory.org/FORTRAN/

Stolen from
https://www.reddit.com/r/fortran/

Lynn

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From Newsgroup: comp.lang.fortran

On 1/7/2026 9:52 PM, Lynn McGuire wrote:

Short documentary streamed in 1982 for the 25th anniversary of FORTRAN.

Documentary:
-a-a https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXvyjbWkTyU

John Backus and other FORTRAN creators speaking about the development of
the language and the compiler.

Preserved written history of FORTRAN:
-a-a https://softwarepreservation.computerhistory.org/FORTRAN/

Stolen from
-a-a https://www.reddit.com/r/fortran/

Lynn

I started writing software in Fortran in 1975, thought it the best thing
since sliced bread. Then I learned Pascal in 1983 (Turbo Pascal). Then
I learned C in 1986 (Turbo C).

Lynn

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From Newsgroup: comp.lang.fortran

On Fri, 9 Jan 2026 15:09:58 -0600, Lynn McGuire wrote:

I started writing software in Fortran in 1975, thought it the best
thing since sliced bread. Then I learned Pascal in 1983 (Turbo
Pascal). Then I learned C in 1986 (Turbo C).

1975 was probably about the time I first encountered actual lines of
Fortran code (though not a computer to run them on). This was in the Encyclopedia Britannica article on computers.

Then I got hold of a book called rCLThe Compleat CybernautrCY, by Anna
Burke Harris. It was a pretty comprehensive introduction to Fortran. I
remember the bio mentioned that the author was living in a city where
she was the only practising blacksmith. I devoured that in a weekend.

Later, I found another book, called rCLProgramming in POP-2rCY. The
concepts of non-numerical programming, lists, structures etc -- way
beyond anything Fortran had -- just blew my mind. Also it was
stack-based.
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From Newsgroup: comp.lang.fortran

Lynn McGuire <lynnmcguire5@gmail.com> schrieb:

Short documentary streamed in 1982 for the 25th anniversary of FORTRAN.

Documentary:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXvyjbWkTyU

Nice video - seeing the peole that I read about in "Abstracting Away
The Machine" (which I thoroughly recommend).

John Backus and other FORTRAN creators speaking about the development of
the language and the compiler.

The job they did was absolutely amazing - almost inventing
everything from scratch.
--
This USENET posting was made without artificial intelligence,
artificial impertinence, artificial arrogance, artificial stupidity,
artificial flavorings or artificial colorants.
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From Newsgroup: comp.lang.fortran

On 1/9/2026 3:40 PM, Lawrence DrCOOliveiro wrote:

On Fri, 9 Jan 2026 15:09:58 -0600, Lynn McGuire wrote:

I started writing software in Fortran in 1975, thought it the best
thing since sliced bread. Then I learned Pascal in 1983 (Turbo
Pascal). Then I learned C in 1986 (Turbo C).

1975 was probably about the time I first encountered actual lines of
Fortran code (though not a computer to run them on). This was in the Encyclopedia Britannica article on computers.

Then I got hold of a book called rCLThe Compleat CybernautrCY, by Anna
Burke Harris. It was a pretty comprehensive introduction to Fortran. I remember the bio mentioned that the author was living in a city where
she was the only practising blacksmith. I devoured that in a weekend.

Later, I found another book, called rCLProgramming in POP-2rCY. The
concepts of non-numerical programming, lists, structures etc -- way
beyond anything Fortran had -- just blew my mind. Also it was
stack-based.

My father started a chemical engineering software company in 1968. In
May of 1975, he asked what I was doing that summer between my freshman
and sophomore years in high school. I said watching tv and reading
scifi books. "Nope, you are going to work for one of my programmers",
my dad said.

So I was the keypuncher for Sun Fu, a Chemical Engineer PhD. Sun Fu
would write an algorithm on the back on a piece or two of printout
paper. I would keypunch the algorithm in Fortran 66, get the subroutine
to compile cleanly on the time share Univac 1108, and deliver the card
deck to Sun Fu. Dad paid me $2.00 per hour. I should have paid him.

I knew Sun Fu well. He lived with us for a year in Houston in 1973
after he got his PhD at the University Of Oklahoma where my Dad had
taught Chemical Engineering from 1963 to 1968. Sun Fu was one of my
Dad's best grad students, an incredibly smart guy from mainland China.

Lynn

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From Newsgroup: comp.lang.fortran

On Fri, 9 Jan 2026 19:33:27 -0600, Lynn McGuire wrote:

So I was the keypuncher for Sun Fu, a Chemical Engineer PhD. Sun Fu
would write an algorithm on the back on a piece or two of printout
paper. I would keypunch the algorithm in Fortran 66, get the
subroutine to compile cleanly on the time share Univac 1108, and
deliver the card deck to Sun Fu.

In the summer job I had at the end of my first year, I was writing
Fortran code to model sawing up a log for planks or peeling it for
plywood. I started by submitting coding forms to the data entry
operators, as per recommended practice, but the cards came back full
of typos (rCL1rCY for rCLIrCY, rCLOrCY for rCL0rCY etc).

There was a 129 keypunch in the room where you submitted jobs, which
was meant to be used by ordinary users for quick corrections only. I
started using it to punch all my own cards. Once the operators
realized I could do my program entry as fast as they could (and more accurately), we came to an agreement that I would give up my place
every few minutes and go round again, to give others in the queue a
chance.
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From Newsgroup: comp.lang.fortran

Lawrence DrCOOliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> writes:

Then I got hold of a book called rCLThe Compleat CybernautrCY, by Anna
Burke Harris.

That's a great title. Amazon listing prices make it look like a real collector's item.

Later, I found another book, called rCLProgramming in POP-2rCY.

That looks interesting, too. It looks like it's still available in the
form of POP-11/Poplog.
--
David Meyer
Takarazuka, Japan
papa@sdf.org
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From Newsgroup: comp.lang.fortran

Lynn McGuire <lynnmcguire5@gmail.com> schrieb:

On 1/7/2026 9:52 PM, Lynn McGuire wrote:

Short documentary streamed in 1982 for the 25th anniversary of FORTRAN.

Documentary:
-a-a https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXvyjbWkTyU

John Backus and other FORTRAN creators speaking about the development of
the language and the compiler.

Preserved written history of FORTRAN:
-a-a https://softwarepreservation.computerhistory.org/FORTRAN/

Stolen from
-a-a https://www.reddit.com/r/fortran/

Lynn

I started writing software in Fortran in 1975, thought it the best thing since sliced bread. Then I learned Pascal in 1983 (Turbo Pascal). Then
I learned C in 1986 (Turbo C).

I started out on my father's programmable calculator (Casio,
38 steps). Enough for factorization. Then, a better programmable
calculator, also Casio, the FX 602-P. In parallel, a C64 (starting
1983?) using Basic and a bit of assembler. Then, Turbo Pascal and
some Modula-2 on the Atari ST, plus Fortran as a student, starting
around 1987 (on IBM-compatible mainframes, later vector computers).
Around 1989, I got access to UNIX workstations and also worked in
C and various script languages, especially Perl.
--
This USENET posting was made without artificial intelligence,
artificial impertinence, artificial arrogance, artificial stupidity,
artificial flavorings or artificial colorants.
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From Newsgroup: comp.lang.fortran

On Sat, 10 Jan 2026 21:20:47 -0000 (UTC), Thomas Koenig wrote:

Around 1989, I got access to UNIX workstations and also worked in C
and various script languages, especially Perl.

What else was there in terms of rCLscriptingrCY at the time?

In those days, rCLscriptingrCY meant rCLinterpretedrCY, which in turn meant rCLslowrCY. Perl managed to break the mould by compiling to an
intermediate byte-code form, which made it fast enough to be a real productivity booster for many common quick-and-dirty programming
tasks.

I would point to Perl as the start of the wave of rCLmetaprogrammingrCY languages (by which he meant rCLvery-high-levelrCY languages) that Fred
Brooks predicted in the final edition of his classic book rCLThe
Mythical Man-MonthrCY.

His own proposed example, AppleScript, is probably best forgotten.
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From Newsgroup: comp.lang.fortran

Lawrence DrCOOliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> schrieb:

On Sat, 10 Jan 2026 21:20:47 -0000 (UTC), Thomas Koenig wrote:

Around 1989, I got access to UNIX workstations and also worked in C
and various script languages, especially Perl.

What else was there in terms of rCLscriptingrCY at the time?

I actually started out with awk, which preceded Perl (I did
not mention that because I mainly switched to Perl once it was
available, but I will use awk '/foo/ { print $1,$3 }' style of
scripts every now and then.

awk actually has the same logic as RPG, but is many orders of
magnitudes saner.

In those days, rCLscriptingrCY meant rCLinterpretedrCY, which in turn meant rCLslowrCY. Perl managed to break the mould by compiling to an
intermediate byte-code form, which made it fast enough to be a real productivity booster for many common quick-and-dirty programming
tasks.

I think the same applies to awk.
--
This USENET posting was made without artificial intelligence,
artificial impertinence, artificial arrogance, artificial stupidity,
artificial flavorings or artificial colorants.
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From Newsgroup: comp.lang.fortran

On Sat, 10 Jan 2026 21:47:15 -0000 (UTC), Thomas Koenig wrote:

Lawrence DrCOOliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> schrieb:

On Sat, 10 Jan 2026 21:20:47 -0000 (UTC), Thomas Koenig wrote:

Around 1989, I got access to UNIX workstations and also worked in
C and various script languages, especially Perl.

What else was there in terms of rCLscriptingrCY at the time?

I actually started out with awk, which preceded Perl ...

Yeah, but Perl does everything awk does, just as concisely, and more.

So yes, at the time people were pushing awk as some kind of
general-purpose high-level language, we already had Perl.

Tcl might have been another possibility, but I think Perl had less bad
syntax. ;)
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From Newsgroup: comp.lang.fortran

Lawrence D?Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:

On Sat, 10 Jan 2026 21:20:47 -0000 (UTC), Thomas Koenig wrote:

Around 1989, I got access to UNIX workstations and also worked in C
and various script languages, especially Perl.

What else was there in terms of ?scripting? at the time?

awk and sed, called from shell scripts.

Of course if you blend shell, sed and awk, you get perl 4.
--
pa at panix dot com
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From Newsgroup: comp.lang.fortran

On Fri, 9 Jan 2026 15:09:58 -0600, Lynn McGuire
<lynnmcguire5@gmail.com> wrote:

On 1/7/2026 9:52 PM, Lynn McGuire wrote:

Short documentary streamed in 1982 for the 25th anniversary of FORTRAN.

Documentary:
aa https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXvyjbWkTyU

John Backus and other FORTRAN creators speaking about the development of
the language and the compiler.

Preserved written history of FORTRAN:
aa https://softwarepreservation.computerhistory.org/FORTRAN/

Stolen from
aa https://www.reddit.com/r/fortran/

Lynn

Thank you very much for this nice, no-fluff video.
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.lang.fortran

On Fri, 9 Jan 2026 15:09:58 -0600, Lynn McGuire
<lynnmcguire5@gmail.com> wrote:

I started writing software in Fortran in 1975, thought it the best thing >since sliced bread. Then I learned Pascal in 1983 (Turbo Pascal). Then
I learned C in 1986 (Turbo C).

Lynn

I first came across Fortran (IV) in 1975 at the Indian Institute of
Technolgy (Bombay). I would say that we were were taught
"Theoretical Fortran" as we were taught the sytax in class and
our exercises, homework and tests consisted of code written
on paper and submitted for evaluation. No actual running of
the programmes as the IBM 360 was doing much more
important work! It was very much like learning maths, physics
or chemistry (but without any lab work!).

In 1976, I got into actual programming on an IBM 370 at
Indiana University. My bible was, and remained, Daniel
McCracken's " A Guide to Fortran IV Programming" till
F77 came by. Then, work took a turn and I got more
and more involved with PV Wave as the integrated
graphics was what was needed on the jo -- which
also meant dealing with Matlab. But, there were quite
a few problems that were still Fortran based till the end
of my hardcore, numberica, programming days around 2010.



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From Newsgroup: comp.lang.fortran

On Sun, 11 Jan 2026 20:24:21 -0000 (UTC), pa@see.signature.invalid
(Pierre Asselin) wrote:

Sorry to use this NG for a private message, but I would like say
hello to a long lost contact.



Pierre, Great to see your name again after many, many years.

I met you in Santa Barbara (around 1980, I guess) when you
were in AMC, working with Vince Kelly. I was a friend of Bob Gray
and Victor del Prado. I was doing my PhD at UCSB at that time
and we exchanged some email after I graduated and joined
Xerox. Victor and I sometimes talk about you and wonder
what you are up to.

Hope all is well with you. Happy New Year!

No, the email will not work, but do let me know if you would
like mine .... and the real name!





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From Newsgroup: comp.lang.fortran

On Tue, 13 Jan 2026 11:59:54 -0500, Charlie Roberts wrote:

Then, work took a turn and I got more and more involved with PV Wave
as the integrated graphics was what was needed on the jo -- which
also meant dealing with Matlab. But, there were quite a few problems
that were still Fortran based till the end of my hardcore,
numberica, programming days around 2010.

MATLAB is, or was, written in Fortran. Out of curiosity, I looked up
PV-Wave -- looks like the kind of thing you would do in NumPy these
days. Similarly in place of MATLAB you could use NumPy with
Matplotlib.

I did a GUI programming job in MATLAB once. Trying to fit GUI
functionality on top of a language primarily designed to work with arrays/matrices was ... an experience I would not like to repeat.
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