7 May
2010
7 May
'10
9:35 p.m.
On 7 May 2010 at 19:43, Fred Cisin wrote:
Fortran with array extensions? I can't compare
its age with Valtrep
(there seems to be only one person who can discuss Valtrep), but
VECTRAN was based on FORTRAN, in the 1970s?. Or is Vectran the fancy
fiber that was invented at Roswell NM?
No, FORTRAN with *vector* extensions (slight difference there,
particularly as it concerns sparse vectors and vector arithmetic),
circa 1973. A major source of a X3J3 brouhaha for Fortran 90. IBM
threatened to withdraw from the proceedings unless the VECTRAN
extensions were made part of ANSI Fortran. (I don't think that IBM
VECTRAN could claim to be the first FORTRAN with vector extensions--I
think that honor goes to either IVTRAN for ILLIAC IV or an early
dialect of LRLTRAN.)
...which led to a lot of philisophical discussion about the purpose
of standards committees. Namely, to certify current practice or
create new language elements.
--Chuck