Description

Fortran was devised as a programming language to do formula translation (hence the name for-tran). Fortran is a programming language that is primarily used by scientists and engineers and is chosen because it is conceptually straight forward and is particularly suited to performing fast numerical calculations.

Fortran is a great language for science and also a great starting point for you as you develop your programming experience, since once you learn one programming language then you can usually quickly switch from one language to another. There are three main operations in programming 1) performing calculations over and over with certain changes, 2) making decisions based on comparing numbers or words, and 3) dealing with arrays of data. This is the essence of programming for science and once you know how to do these operations in Fortran then you can start writing useful programs.

Aim

The aim of this e-learning course in Fortran is to get you started in learning the programming language to a basic level to enable you to start writing Fortran programs. Fortran is taught within a Unix environment as most scientific work is performed in this environment. If you are using Fortran in a Microsoft Windows or other environment then the programming you learn in this course will be just as valid but the environment that you enter the coding may vary.

The majority of this course is based on learning Fortran 95 and some Fortran 77 is also introduced. Fortran 95 is consistent with all the recent versions like 2007; however, it is important to know some Fortran 77 as it is still frequently used, so I will introduce both and note the key differences for a beginner.

Glossary

A glossary is available that lists the commonly used terms and commands.