Should C Replace FORTRAN as the Language of Scientific Programming?

TL;DRAbstract

Anti-FORTRAN sentiment has recently become more prevalent. Where does the attitude originate? The most probable source is academia, where C and C++ are the languages of choice. Is there a fact based justification for the attitude? FORTRAN and C are evaluated to determine whether C is a better language than FORTRAN for scientific programming. The features of FORTRAN 77, FORTRAN 90, C and C++ are compared, and evaluated as to how well they meet the requirements of the scientific programming domain. FORTRAN was designed specifically for numerical programming, and thus better meets the requirements. Three algorithms in the scientific domain are coded in both FORTRAN and C. They are evaluated on performance, readability of the code and optimization potential. In all cases the FORTRAN implementations proved superior. Is there evidence to mandate that all upgrades and new development should be done in C, rather than FORTRAN? A good computer programmer can solve any given problem in any langua

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