Portability of Fortran - was Re: Architectural diversity - was Re: Pair of Twiggys

[Chuck Guzis]

On 03/19/2017 02:14 PM, Toby Thain via cctalk wrote:

>   "The Fortran codes implementing the most effective methods are
> provided in the included diskette. The codes are portable on virtually
> any computer, extensively commented and---hopefully---easy to use."

Take a look at early ACM CALGO (collected algorithms).  Algorithm 1
dates from 1960 and is in Algol; indeed all of Volume I and a good part
of Volume II are exclusively Algol.  You don't hit FORTRAN until about
1968 (somewhere around Algorithm 330).  After that, you'll see pages and
pages of FORTRAN.

I do think that Algol is far more elegant for describing algorithms than
FORTRAN; but the sad fact is that many (US-based) programmers didn't
speak Algol.

--Chuck