On 05/11/2014 10:51 AM, Roy Smith wrote:
In article <871tw0s2kl....@elektro.pacujo.net>,
Marko Rauhamaa <ma...@pacujo.net> wrote:
Tomasz Rola <rto...@ceti.pl>:
Given that Fortran is here for almost 60 years and lot of effort has
been spent to keep it backwards compatible (AFAIK), I wouldn't hold my
breath.
I have seen a glimpse of the so-called scientific computing and Fortran
programming. I can't help but think that Fortran is successful with
people who don't know how to program and don't care.
That's fine. If I were to build a cyclotron, I bet the Fortran coders
would smile at my clumsy efforts.
It is fine. Computers are tools. The sign of a good tool is that you
can pick it up and use it without having to read the instruction manual.
I can jump into pretty much any car, start the engine, and drive it,
without any learning curve. There's a lot of complicated organic
chemistry and thermodynamics going on inside the engine's combustion
chambers, but I don't need to know any of that to make use of the tool.
That is an excellent example. For the most part cars are very similar, yet in some circumstances (such as a vehicle in
front of you suddenly stopping) the exact details (such as the precise location and size and shape of the brake pedal)
become excruciatingly important (having your foot stomp the floor just to the right of the current break pedal, because
that's where the brake was in your last vehicle, is not going to help here).
How the lights and/or windshield wipers turn on/off is also an important detail.
--
~Ethan~
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