From chemistry-request@ccl.net Mon Dec  9 16:38:56 1991
Date: Mon, 09 Dec 1991 13:31:57 PST
From: "W. Todd Wipke" <wipke@SECS.UCSC.EDU>
To: chemistry@ccl.net
Subject: Re: FORTRAN vs C                                                
Status: R

I think the background of the programmer is important to consider.  Most
of the FORTRAN scientific programmers have lots of training in math and
science, but little or none in modern programming methodology.  They learn
from old FORTRAN programs that are not good examples of structured
programming.  C programmers started with structured programming text books
and much more recent reference code.  
    I recall when PL-1 was going to totally displace FORTRAN, it didn't.
In 1978 the PRIMOS operating system for Prime timesharing computers was
written in FORTRAN, and it was built with structured programming.
    In summary, most scientists are trained primarily in their discipline,
programming is considered by many to be "obvious" if you know the math of
your discipline--the program follows obviously from the matrix equations.
Scientists often learn programming by looking at old programs that are
usually written in FORTRAN and usually linear spaghetti style without
indention.  Newer applications such as AI, graphics, synthesis planning,
etc show stronger influence from software engineering and minimal math.
    We should realize that programming is a form of creative scientific
writing.  We emphasize to our students the importance of writing style and
clear concise writing.  We should extend this to programming style, its
important to the future of the field of computational chemistry.

wipke@secs.ucsc.edu
Todd Wipke
Molecular Engineering Laboratory
University of California
Santa Cruz, CA 95064