About Fortran
Fortran (earlier FORTRAN) is a low level programming language. It is often recognised as the first programming language and was created in the 1950s. The name Fortran is derived from FORmula TRANslator. When Fortran was created computers did not have near the computing power of modern computers it prioritized computation-speed over code-readability. The high computation speed is the main reason behind Fortrans continued use. It is very well suited for numeric computing and is still widely used for scientific purposes.
How to download and install Fortran
To get started with using Fortran you need a compiler compatible with your desired Fortran version. NTNU has an educational license for NAG Fortran builder, and it supports FORTRAN 90 with most of the implementations from FORTRAN 2008
Getting started with Fortran
Useful tutorials
- Fortran in action (example)
- Nice introduction to programming by fortrantutorial.com (PDF)