Re: Why C++ is successful

[Ell <ell@access2.digex.net>]

In comp.object Larry Elmore <ljelmore@montana.campus.mci.net> wrote:
: Ell wrote in message <35c0edf6.9796817@news.erols.com>...
:>"Pat Rogers" <progers@acm.org> wrote:
:>
:>>Juan Carlos Gil Montoro wrote in message <35BF51A2.B199FDFA@gmv.es>...
:>>>Pat Rogers wrote:

:>>>> That's why I'm learning Java now, and Eiffel and C++ in the past.  They
: all
:>>>> contribute something to make one a better developer.  I need to take
: another
:>>>> look at Fortran, because it sure isn't the Fortran IV I used in the old
:>>>> days!

:>>>  You'll be happy you did.
:>>>  Fortran 90 and Fortran 95 are modern languages unbeatable (IMHO) in
:>>>their niche.

:>>Since you mention it, what would you say is Fortran's niche that the
: language is
:>>unbeatable in filling?

:>Mathematical calculations.  The science, engineering, business, and
:>other groups requiring large amounts of efficient math processing have
:>overwhelmingly adopted Fortran for decades.

: But isn't this largely due to a combination of inertia, legacy code,
: existing libraries plus compilers that are very, very good at optimizing
: that kind of code (they've certainly had enough time to get them working
: right!), rather than anything to do with the language itself?

Fortran has been one of, if the best overall best language for math
calculation since it appeared in the '50's.  It was the 1st high level
language suitable for complex math.  It's 3 or 4 the revision allowed
asssembler to be easily mixed into its source, and it had nicely optimized
compiler's which produced efficient code.  For fast, complex math I still
think it outshines the other--especially amongst most widely used, well
known languages.

Elliott
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