History of Fortran

 

History of Fortran

 

Fortran, short for "Formula Translation," is one of the oldest high-level programming languages, designed for numerical and scientific computing. Here's a brief history of Fortran:

 

1. **Development (1950s):**

   - Fortran was first developed by IBM (International Business Machines Corporation) in the 1950s.

   - The initial version, Fortran I, was introduced in 1957 for the IBM 704 computer.

 

2. **Fortran II (1958):**

   - IBM released Fortran II in 1958, which included several improvements over the original version.

 

3. **Fortran IV (1962):**

   - Fortran IV, released in 1962, became widely popular and standard in the industry.

   - This version introduced many new features, including character data types and subprograms (subroutines and functions).

 

4. **Fortran 66 (1966):**

   - Fortran underwent a significant revision in 1966, resulting in Fortran 66.

   - This version standardized the language, and many new features were added, including the DO loop and the IF-THEN-ELSE statement.

 

5. **Fortran 77 (1977):**

   - Fortran 77, released in 1977, brought further improvements and standardization.

   - It introduced features like structured programming constructs, block IF statements, and complex data types.

 

6. **Fortran 90 (1991):**

   - Fortran 90 marked a major overhaul of the language, introducing many modern features.

   - This version added dynamic memory allocation, modules, recursion, and array operations.

 

7. **Fortran 95 (1997):**

   - Fortran 95 was a minor revision, mainly clarifying and correcting some issues in Fortran 90.

 

8. **Fortran 2003 (2004):**

   - Fortran 2003 introduced features like object-oriented programming (OOP) constructs, improved interoperability with C, and support for parallel programming.

 

9. **Fortran 2008 (2010):**

   - Fortran 2008 brought further enhancements, including coarrays for parallel programming, enhancements to the language's array features, and additional intrinsic procedures.

 

10. **Recent Developments:**

    - Fortran continues to be used in scientific and high-performance computing due to its efficiency in handling numerical calculations.

    - While Fortran is no longer as dominant in general-purpose programming, it remains a crucial language in specific domains.

 

Fortran's long history and ongoing development reflect its resilience and adaptability in the scientific and engineering communities. Despite the emergence of newer languages, Fortran continues to play a vital role in high-performance computing and scientific applications.