the python name
rbowman
bowman at montana.com
Sun Jan 6 21:25:10 EST 2019
On 01/04/2019 10:45 AM, Peter J. Holzer wrote:
> FORTRAN is older than most of us. So it influenced what we think a
> computer language should sound like.
Sadly, not for all of us... FORTRAN seeded later languages with terms
that are obscure, like rewind(). A blazing powerhouse like the IBM
System 360/30 had at most 64k of core, and by that I mean real magnetic
core knit by little old ladies. It also had massive tape drives. By
massive I mean 1/2" tape on 10" spools, not that they could hold that
much data.
Anyway for something like a Fast Fourier you wrote a partial products to
tape, rewound the tape, took another pass, rinse and repeat. It was a joy.
While FORTRAN definitely had some influence, particularly on BASIC,
don't give it too much credit. It had little gems like the computed
goto. It took until Fortran 90 to allow such novelties as lower case and
free form input. Prior to that it still assumed you were using Hollerith
cards. I don't think it ever moved beyond the DO loop.
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