Chemical engineer how useful would FORTRAN be

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Discussion Overview

The discussion centers around the relevance and utility of FORTRAN for chemical engineers, particularly in light of its perceived decline in popularity and the rise of other programming languages. Participants share personal experiences and insights regarding the language's application in engineering and scientific contexts.

Discussion Character

  • Debate/contested
  • Technical explanation
  • Conceptual clarification

Main Points Raised

  • One participant questions the usefulness of FORTRAN for chemical engineers, noting that it is listed as a good language by a university but has heard it is becoming obsolete.
  • Another participant, reflecting on their experience, suggests that if one knows BASIC, learning FORTRAN may not be necessary, as both languages share structural similarities.
  • A different contributor mentions a friend's experience using FORTRAN in a research project related to particle physics, indicating that it still has applications in certain fields.
  • One participant argues that FORTRAN remains in use due to its historical significance in large math and engineering packages, and that understanding it can be beneficial for interfacing with modern languages like C++.
  • Another comment expresses skepticism about FORTRAN's potential decline, suggesting that its later versions are still actively used and developed.
  • A participant raises the idea that C is gaining popularity and suggests that learning both C and FORTRAN might be advantageous, although they admit to lacking knowledge in chemical engineering.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express a mix of opinions regarding the relevance of FORTRAN, with some suggesting it is still useful while others believe it is on the decline. No consensus is reached on its overall utility for chemical engineers.

Contextual Notes

Some statements reflect personal experiences and opinions, which may not encompass the full scope of FORTRAN's applicability in chemical engineering. The discussion does not resolve the question of FORTRAN's future relevance or its comparative utility against other programming languages.

omagdon7
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As a chemical engineer how useful would FORTRAN be to me. It is listed on the University of Florida's ChemE homepage as a good language, but I have heard it is on its way out.

All Comments Welcome
 
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I saw your post and just had to reply. I'm not a programmer but I learned fortran way back before there were PCs. I was an engineering student and took the math department course (there was no computer science department then) called Intorduction to Computing. I kept the text for old times sake. It even has a key punch card as a bookmarker (lol).

Anyway to answer your question. In my opinion, if you know BASIC there is no point. There may be a few differences but basically it's structured the same. A high level language.

Regards
Don
 
omagdon7 said:
As a chemical engineer how useful would FORTRAN be to me. It is listed on the University of Florida's ChemE homepage as a good language, but I have heard it is on its way out.

All Comments Welcome

yeah, that's what i keep on hearing, too.

but, for instance, my friend is doing an REU at u-chicago right now. and she had to use fortran to ...do something particle physics-y.

the advice that i got from my undergrad physics adviser is that it's easy to learn fortran once you have learned c++ but the opposite is not necessarily true.
 
FORTRAN has been on its way out for more years than I can count!

It is still used because so many of the first large math/engineering packages were written in FORTRAN. Actually most C++ compilers (For example. Same for Ada, etc.) allow C++ programs to call FORTRAN subroutines but it is still a good idea to know basic FORTRAN so you will understand the function calling format.
 
... and it seems that the later releases are still used, developed and going to be used to such extent that I'm starting to think whether it'll die at all.
 
Isn't C gaining popularity? It's probably best to learn both, althought I don't know much about chemical engineering.
 

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