On Tue, Oct 02, 2007 at 08:47:29AM -0500, Chopin Cusachs wrote: > > FORTRAN is still used in number crunching applications. Its big > weakness was not defining a minimal variable storage unit, since > it came out when everybody doing scientific computing used a > machine with 36 bit words carrying 8 significant decimal digits in > the mantissa. When the IBM 360 and such with a 32 bit binary > coded hexadecimal word, suddenly single precision was often > inadequate and the principle of all variable storage being the > same could not be continued. Unlike most later languages, code > in FORTRAN can be made easy to read, with a few simple added > rule.
In "Mythical Man Month", Fred Brooks talks about his experience helping to designing the 360. He touches upon their documentation efforts, which all had to be kept, distributed, and updated using dead trees. That is a small part, but I recommend it to anyone involved in programming or computer related project management for the rest of it, too. Brett > > Thanks, Joey, for a delightful tour of memory lane. > > Choppy > > At 07:08 PM 10/1/07, Joey Kelly wrote: > >I've been trying to slog through this for 2 days now, laughing all the way: > >http://freeworld.thc.org/root/phun/unmaintain.html > > > _______________________________________________ > General mailing list > General at brlug.net > http://mail.brlug.net/mailman/listinfo/general_brlug.net -- HPC Enablement Group Louisiana Optical Network Initiative http://www.loni.org 225-578-1920
