10 Jun
2005
10 Jun
'05
4:02 p.m.
On Fri, 10 Jun 2005, Nico de Jong wrote:
Even more moot. Most of the work that we were doing at NASA was in
FORTRAN. A FORTRAN compiler that runs on current machines is NOT
necessary.
If the source code is available, then it can be used, NOT for compiling,
but for determining the structure of the data. If the source code is NOT
available, then the structure of the data must be manually determined.
After that, new software can be written to work with it.
A REAL programmer can write a FORTRAN program in any language.
Fred> I
agree enthusiatically with Nico. Although it MIGHT be
Fred> difficult or "impossible" to "decode" the data, once the
Fred> "indecipherable" data has been transferred to current media,
Fred> then the whole issue of "obsolete, unobtainable hardware"
Fred> becomes moot.
. . .
True. Then it changes to "are hardware emulation and software
binaries available?" The answer will vary depending on what system
The question you pose is probably not relevant. My (mainframe) background is
in commercial routines (invoicing, personel, stock, wages, ....) so if I had
to rephrase the question, it would be something like "Is there (1) a Cobol
(PL/I, RPG, ....) compiler available which is compatible with the source
files I have on tape, and (2) does the compiler handle data structures (e.g.
COMP-3) in the same way as the original compiler".