Learn Fortran for Mechanical Engineering: Beginner's Guide

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    Beginners Fortran
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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the need for resources to learn Fortran, particularly for first-year mechanical engineering students. Participants share their experiences and opinions on the relevance of Fortran in engineering education, as well as alternative programming languages that may be more beneficial.

Discussion Character

  • Debate/contested
  • Technical explanation
  • Exploratory

Main Points Raised

  • One participant expresses a need for beginner's guides to Fortran, indicating a lack of affordable resources.
  • Several participants question the current relevance of Fortran in engineering, suggesting that languages like MATLAB or LABVIEW are more practical.
  • A participant mentions a specific instance of Fortran being used in a notable programming project, highlighting its historical significance.
  • Another participant shares their negative experience learning Fortran, advocating for MATLAB instead.
  • Some participants argue that Fortran remains important due to its long-standing use in engineering applications and the challenges of translating existing software to new languages.
  • There is a mention of new revisions of Fortran and its capabilities in computationally demanding tasks, suggesting ongoing relevance in certain contexts.
  • A participant notes the relationship between MATLAB and Fortran, pointing out similarities in syntax.
  • Concerns are raised about generalizations regarding the skills and knowledge of different engineering disciplines.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants do not reach a consensus on the relevance of Fortran in modern engineering education. While some advocate for its continued importance, others suggest that it is outdated and that alternatives like MATLAB are more useful.

Contextual Notes

Participants express varying levels of familiarity with Fortran and its applications, leading to differing opinions on its necessity in the curriculum. There are also references to specific educational institutions and resources, which may not be universally applicable.

Fritz
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I'm in the first year of mechanical engineering and can't afford a Fortran textbook.

Does anyone have a beginners guide that would be suitable for the level I need to learn? I need to know that basics.

Thanks in advance my friends.
 
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Nobody knows?
 
Maybe you will have better luck posting in the General Technology Forum.
 
I don't believe they're still teaching fortran...

MATLAB or LABVIEW (or both) are all an engineer could possibly need unless you're programming microcontrollers.

Anyway. Don't post another thread. Someone will move this over there.

EDIT: See? :smile:
 
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Are we still using Fortan? Your best bet is probable to try google.
 
A programmer at IBM, Andruw Odylyzko, actually wrote a Zeta function root-finder in Fortran. Of course, it was compiled with the Cray Fortran compiler. That's once instance where Fortran sounds impressive.
 
We learned Fortran in 1st year Mech Eng. What a complete waste of time it was. I wholeheartedly second Enigma's MatLab comment, I've found it to be far more efficient and easy to use.

In the meantime, I'm trying to get hold of the link which I downloaded all my comprehensive Fortran notes from, but can't seem to find it at the moment. (If you're brave, try flicking through the uni site - http://www.umist.ac.uk .)

Good luck!
 
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Anyone else? I need Fortran notes really badly.
 
Googling for it was really a good advice. It uses to be, in the general case.

A Google search for "fortran tutorial" brings this up (at the very least):

http://gershwin.ens.fr/vdaniel/Doc-Locale/Langages-Program-Scientific/Fortran/Tutorial/

Hope it helps.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
  • #10
Why learn Fortran?

Fortran is the dominant programming language used in engineering applications. It is therefore important for engineering graduates to be able to read and modify Fortran code. From time to time, so-called experts predict that Fortran will rapidly fade in popularity and soon become extinct. These predictions have always failed. Fortran is the most enduring computer programming language in history. One of the main reasons Fortran has survived and will survive is software inertia. Once a company has spent many man-years and perhaps millions of dollars on a software product, it is unlikely to try to translate the software to a different language. Reliable software translation is a very difficult task.
 
  • #11
Yeah to all above and its going forwards, new revisions are again up and when the going gets really computationally demanding, like in parallel processing with clusters etc., I still feel fortran has a lot to give ... also other than inertia using ages old kernels.
 
  • #12
matlab is derived from fortran and much of the syntax is swappable. Matlab is interpreted..


Perhaps mech eng's only learn 2 languages or so but us electrical engineers learn many more. Perhaps its because we design integrated circuits and electronics though. Still i hate it when people generalize about engineers and how they build bridges.
 
  • #13
Still i hate it when people generalize about engineers and how they build bridges.

Tell me about it ... every time someone asks me something like "what is wrong with my car" or something related ... its just another exercise in anger management !
 

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