Modern Fortran Explained: Incorporating Fortran 2018

Numerical Mathematics and Scientific Computation

by Michael Metcalf, John Reid, Malcolm Cohen

Fortran marches on, remaining one of the principal programming languages used in high-performance scientific, numerical, and engineering computing. A series of significant revisions to the standard versions of the language have progressively enhanced its capabilities, and the latest standard - Fortran 2018 - includes many additions and improvements.

This edition of Modern Fortran Explained expands on the last. Given the release of updated versions of Fortran compilers, the separate descriptions of Fortran 2003 and Fortran 2008 have been incorporated into the main text, which thereby becomes a unified description of the full Fortran 2008 version of the language. This clearer standard has allowed many deficiencies and irregularities in the earlier language versions to be resolved.

Four new chapters describe the additional features of Fortran 2018, with its enhancements to coarrays for parallel programming, interoperability with C, IEEE arithmetic, and various other improvements.

Written by leading experts in the field, two of whom have actively contributed to Fortran 2018, this is a complete and authoritative description of Fortran in its latest form. It is intended for new and existing users of the language, and for all those involved in scientific and numerical computing. It is suitable as a textbook for teaching and, with its index, as a handy reference for practitioners.

Genres: Programming, Reference, Mathematics, Technical, Nonfiction, Computers, Computer Science

544 pages, Paperback

First published December 3, 1987

Reviews

[Alexander Temerev · Rating 3 out of 5]

While this is one if the very rare books on modern Fortran (perhaps the only one), it is still poorly written and structured. You’ll have to learn on your own, from practical experience. That’s a pity, because modern Fortran is a nice and interesting language, well worth learning.

[Amir Shahmoradi · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is likely the most comprehensive Fortran reference one may be able to find on the market. The content of the book seems far too comprehensive for a first-time programmer whose purpose is to learn Fortran or programming in general (perhaps unless used as a textbook in class). However, it is supplied with many examples and end-of-chapter exercises and the writing style of the book is very fluent and clear. For me, as a Fortraner with ~7 years of experience, it has mainly served as the ultimate reference guide, in particular, when I am disappointed with internet or other Fortran resources.

There seems to exist some typos, though minor, in the text and occasionally in examples. But if you already know some Fortran, you would be able to decipher the typos very easily.

[Anton Simakov · Rating 4 out of 5]

The primary purpose of this well-known book is to serve as a comprehensive Fortran language reference complementary to the ISO Standard. It explains almost every feature of modern Fortran in great details and clean prose but requires a great deal of experience in Fortran programming. This is not (and not intended to be) an introduction to Fortran programming or programming in general for novices, rather it is an excellent reference for already experienced Fortran programmers.

Recommended: as a language reference (complementary to the standard) for experienced Fortran programmers.
Not recommended: as a textbook for beginners.

[Antti Karanta]

Nice and compact presentation of the language. You'll have to know how to program and what objects and classes are good for - you won't learn that here. But if you already know that, this book lets you quickly see how to do it in modern Fortran.

[Ryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

i heart nerds

[Ab · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm tempted to put it onto the shelf scifi :)

[Zach · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a good reference, which I suppose is what it is trying to be, but absolutely not a book to learn from. I would have liked to see a K&R-like "tutorial introduction" chapter or two.