Product Description

An Introduction to Programming with Fortran is a comprehensive introduction to Fortran, and is essential to the complete beginner who wants to learn the fundamentals of programming using a modern, powerful and expressive language; as well as those wanting to update their programming skills by making the move from earlier versions of Fortran.

It contains lots of clear and simple examples highlighting the key language features of the most recent versions of Fortran – Fortran 2003, 95 and 90. The authors also provide examples based on ISO TR 15580 and ISO TR 15581 as these are quite widely supported as well and cover the ISO TR on Enhanced Modules, which is of particular importance to large code suites.

The examples used throughout the book highlight common problems that occur when programming, and give a solution in Fortran, producing a very effective, hands-on approach.

Details of a variety of internet-based sources are also included, which will prove invaluable to those seeking further information and support.

Customer Reviews (6)

Only appropriate for someone who has never programmed anything
I was deeply disappointed with this book. I bought it really just to review Fortran and learn the features of Fortran 95 since I hadn't used Fortran since the early 90's, and '95 is practically a new language. It's not a terrible book. Just understand that the "Introduction" part of the title can't be emphasized enough. It might be fine for someone who has never learned programming in -any- language, but professional programmers fluent in at least one other language should not even consider it. Huge swaths of the book are wasted on excruciatingly banal explanations (which aren't even that good). The history part in the beginning is nice...except that it's a considerable chunk of the book and that's not what I was paying for. Other huge swaths are just space-filling code listings. And the whole thing has a "written on contract" feel...like Springer just committed to publishing something on Fortran and roped some academics into assembling some text. Again, if you're a complete beginner at programming (and not just Fortran) it might be OK. If you're anything else, forget it. I've never written a negative review before now, and never thought I'd have anything negative to say of a Springer book, but this was a huge disappointment.

Hate it
It seems to be well-liked by those who like it, but I really don't like it. I'm not saying it's bad, but I think it's not the most appropriate book for me.

I'm a statistician who needs to write programs in Fortran for Bayesian computations; I know enough about programming to be dangerous, but also enough to know that I'm not a programmer; I've written lots of lousy code in C and Java before swearing off them years ago; I'd rather program in Perl, S or bash.

It seems hard to find good examples (for instance, how do I write a function that returns an array?). The appendix listing intrinsic functions is frequently hard to understand and atrociously designed and formatted.

I expect if you read it cover-to-cover, you'd have a good understanding of, e.g., how exactly interfaces work, but it's hard to just jump in and find this information.

Not as advertised
This book provides good coverage of Fortran 90 and 95 but the only Fortran 2003 discussion is four pages that list the features.Since I don't think listing the features constitutes "Coverage", I have given this book a low rating.I would have given it the lowest rating but the coverage of Fortran 90 and 95 is very helpful to me.I wish the authors had not misrepresented the content in the book's title.

Excellent
Definitively, an excellent book that I enthusiastically recommend. I've been programming in Fortran (mainly 77) some years ago, so I needed to recycle not only my knowledge about the language but also my way of focussing tasks susceptible of being programmed. This book fully fulfilled my expectations.

Good introduction to FORTRAN
This book does not assume any prior knowledge and provides a good intro to Fortran programming (also provides a short intro to programming in general). Goes over the essential elements needed to get started with Fortran and provides many examples. In fact, most of the concepts are demonstrated using actual coding examples. One drawback is that the index in this book is not extensive, so it does not serve quite as well as a reference. However, it still does a decent job in this department. After reading through this book I felt well-prepared to begin programming in Fortran. A nice complement to getting this book is to download one of the freely available Fortran documentation manuals (e.g. from Intel) to serve as a reference guide. ... Read more

Product Description
This complete tutorial by three authors who contributed to the development ofthe Fortran 90 standards places a special emphasis on science and engineeringapplications. Building on the lead author's auccessful work, Fortran 77, 2ndEd., the book provides Fortran 90. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

The only book you may need for F90
I learnt F90 from this and it is very good book, which tells you good programming practices. It teaches you how to write proper structured F90 programs and how to avoid the pitfalls of F77 or fortran langauge in general. And I saw lot of people including one of my professors writing bad to horrible F77 programs. Having worked as a professional C coder before, also helped me to appreciate this book.

Good explanations but too pedantic
This book explains very well the features of Fortran90 programming, but it is way too pedantic. I would have preferred a more concise, O'Reilly style of writing. Many examples of very simple code are provided to illustrate points - I found them to distract from the points being made. The book could also have benefited from a more Object Oriented focus as many of the new features of F90 over F77 are attempts to move Fortran in this direction.

excellent book for learning new features of fortran 90
Well written detailed coverage of Fotran 90. Clear explanations of obsolete F77 features and other features of the language to avoid using and why. I would recommend this text to anyone wishing to learn F90 from scratch or upgrading from F77. Good example programs, code fragment and many programming exercises with solutions. I am now enjoying the use of derived types and generic functions as well as extending the intrinsic functions.

A very carefully written textbook and reference.
This is one of the best books on Fortran 90 programming. Its major strength is that the information in the book is reliable and correct. It may especially be very useful for experienced FORTRAN 77 programmers. Ithink every Fortran programmer must have a copy of this text in his/herlibrary. ... Read more

Product Description

This concise, accessible, and easy-to-read guide introduces the most important features of Fortran 03. Features: presents a complete discussion of all the basic features needed to write complete Fortran programs; makes extensive use of examples and case studies; provides a detailed exploration of control constructs, modules, procedures, arrays, character strings, data structures and derived types, pointer variables, and object-oriented programming; introduces the topic of modules as the framework for organizing data and procedures for a Fortran program; investigates the excellent input/output facilities available in Fortran; includes appendices listing the many intrinsic procedures and providing a brief informal syntax specification for the language; supplies simple problems throughout the book. This indispensable textbook provides a tutorial for anyone who wants to learn Fortran 03, and is eminently suitable as a reference for professionals.

Product Description
If you want fast mastery of Fortran 77 and top grades, this powerful study tool is the best tutor you can have! Inside, you will find: 326 detailed problems, with step-by-step solutions; hundreds of additional practice problems, with answers supplied; clear explanations of algorithm development, program design, control structures, loops, arrays, subprograms, and data files; and plenty of example code, as well as thorough coverage of debugging techniques. Whether used alone for independent study or with a class text, this popular SchaumOs Outline is your ticket to a fast learning curve with Fortran 77! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (9)

Schaum's Programming with Fortran 77
It's a great book for a quick review of the basics or for someone already experienced in C who needs to, for whatever reason, start programming in Fortran. I've never seriously coded in Fortran before but needed to get up to speed with it. Schaum's Oulines for F77 was a great way to gear up in less than a week and start contributing to the existing code base. Highly recommend this book exactly for that purpose. Also, make sure you don't skip over the Solved Problems section as you could potentially pick up a few tricks from the provided solutions.

Good For Basics
Great to learn basics/ review syntax if your coming back to Fortran.Doesn't have anything about compiling, or F90 features(obvi, it a F77 book), so no help with modules, but thats easy enough with google.Also, your compiler should have the info about compiling.

Great for programmers who are new to Fortran
This book provides a basic outline of Fortran 77 for elementary programmers.I was previously only familiar with C++ (only one introductory class).This book helped me learn the basics of Fortran quickly and efficiently, but it does not cover any advanced topics.

Best for starters!!
For Fortran beginners this would be a good friend of yours but using it with other books such as Introduction to Fortran or other published tutorials on the web would put the icing to the cake.I recommend 'Interractive fortran 77- A hands on Approach' by Ian D Chivers et al.-which is also an online book to supplement this book.In that way you will be kickin' some fortran.

Very good book
This is a very good book for those who does not know programming with fortran 77 but would like to learn it in a relatively short period of time. It is also a good reference for those who writes fortran 77 codes and in need of a source to have a quick look at programming rules and examples. I used this book to write codes for my simulations in my PhD study. I recommend it. ... Read more

Product Description
Fundamentals of Engineering Programming with C and Fortran is a beginner's guide to problem solving with computers that shows how to quickly prototype a program for a particular engineering application. The book's side-by- side coverage of C and Fortran is unique. Myler emphasizes the importance of developing programming skills in C while carefully presenting the importance of maintaining a good reading knowledge of Fortran. Beginning with a brief description of computer architecture, he then covers the fundamentals of computer programming for problem solving. He also devotes separate chapters to data types and operators, control flow, type conversion, arrays, and file operations. The final chapter contains case studies that illustrate particular elements of modeling and visualization. Also included are a number of appendices covering C and Fortran language summaries and other useful topics. This concise and accessible book can be used as a text for introductory-level undergraduate courses on engineering programming or as a self-study guide for practicing engineers. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

fortran
I like to study the computer programming of fortran and this is my first time of studying. ... Read more

Product Description
Computing for Scientists focuses on the principles involved in scientific programming. Topics of importance and interest to scientists are presented in a thoughtful and thought-provoking way, with coverage ranging from high-level object-oriented software to low-level machine-code operations. Taking a problem-solving approach, this book gives the reader an insight into the ways programs are implemented and what actually happens when they run. Throughout, the importance of good programming style is emphasised and illustrated. Two languages, Fortran 90 and C++, are used to provide contrasting examples, and explain how various techniques are used and when they are appropriate or inappropriate. For scientists and engineers needing to write programs of their own or understand those written by others, Computing for Scientists:
* Is a carefully written introduction to programming, taking the reader from the basics to a considerable level of sophistication.
* Emphasises an understanding of the principles and the development of good programming skills.
* Includes optional "starred" sections containing more specialised and advanced material for the more ambitious reader.
* Assumes no prior knowledge, and has many examples and exercises with solutions included at the back of the book. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Pithy Treatment of a Voluminous Subject
In addition to being a chemist myself who uses programming technologies extensively, I also teach courses designed to introduce relevant software technologies to other chemists, such as programming and database skills.

One of the problems that I faced was lack of a good introductory text on programming that would be relevant to an applied scientist. Most introductory programming books appear to be written for someone who intends to be a computer scientist, or even worse, rather than teaching language-independent skills, they try instead to teach you one programming language. As anyone knows who has ever browsed the computer section of their local bookstore or even here on Amazon, the number of books available on the topic of programming is enormous, to say the least.

I was pleasantly surprised when I came across this book at a local electronics store. For the time being, I am going to refer to it as a good starting point for any scientist who wishes to enhance his/her programming skills.

Barlow and Barnett cover many of the topics that I consider essential when learning any programming language, such as data types, operators, conditional statements, looping constructs, etc. Furthermore, he even covers important concepts like accessing memory (e.g. pointers in C++), state machines, abstraction, and object-oriented techniques. I was very happy to see the authors stress the importance of striving for ANSI compliant code.

For a book that was published in 1998, I was very impressed to see a section on template programming with C++. Clearly, Barlow and Barnett are very good at recognizing emerging trends.Furthermore, they are equally adept at explaining difficult concepts in a lucid way. Towards the end of the book, the authors' physics slant is evident by the section on numerical analysis, but the treatment is great, since it exemplifies how programming can be used for solving computationally intensive tasks that have physical significance.

Although this book on programming is geared towards scientists, it really would serve as a nice introduction to programming for any discipline. Although Fortran's popularity is very low outside of engineering, the juxtaposition of C++ with Fortran was a very nice touch, as it really allows one to look past language specific features in order to see generic programming concepts. Computer languages, like spoken languages, are such that, the first one is hardest to learn, but with each one you learn, the process of learning the next one becomes successively easier, and authors' use of two languages in one book really exemplifies this concept.

This book does not aim to teach you either C++ or Fortran, although it does point out some real pitfalls (e.g. in C++, x = a[i] + i++) in each language. Instead, the authors gives you a great foundation, from which you will be able learn generic programming concepts, as well as evaluate programming languages, so that in the future, you should be able to select one that is appropriate for your task at hand. Finally, they authors give great examples of using programming technologies to solve problems of a scientific nature, and he is able to accomplish in less than 300 pages what most books fail to do in three to four times that amount.

unorthodox but very nice introduction to programming
Intended for first or second year engineering or science students.It teaches programming at an introductory level. Yes, its a text book for one of those Programming 101 courses.

However, what sets this textbook apart from others is that it employs two languages (i.e. Fortran and C++), instead of one, to teach the same old material.And this has some interesting charasteristics.The authors has presented the material in a comparative way so that the student has the chance to see, very clearly, the relative merits of each language.For example, when they introduce arrays you will see the ease of Fortran in dealing with them. On the other hand, when object oriented programming is presented, C++'s superiority becomes apparent for that purpose.By seeing two languages side by side, one can also discern the fundamentals from language specific rules.

I'm familiar with Fortran and it has been a while since I took my first course in programming but this textbook has taught me quite a lot of things.If you know one of the languages, it might still make sense to buy it.You will appreciate your language better and will find what the other language does better.By the way, the book doesn't teach about mixed language programming. ... Read more

Product Description
This book is a complete presentation of standard FORTRAN 77 with special applications of numerical methods in science and engineering. It surpasses the coverage of its best-selling predecessor, FORTRAN 77 for Engineers and Scientists, Third Edition, by adding a current introduction to Fortran 90.This book emphasizes sound structured programming and software engineering principles; its clear and concise presentation is perfect for readers who possess a background in algebra, with no previous programming experience. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Good
I'm a college freshman who took a course that needed this book. I would say that the price and condition wise of the product sent to me is great, but I don't know if the content's helpful or not. Overall, I'll give this product a 5-star for it's price and condition.

Gives good examples of real world applications
I have been using this book to teach an introductory university-level mechanical engineering class that emphasizes computer programming.This book adequately covers all important topics in Fortran and contains many real-world engineering applications (such as solving for roots).

The examples are well commented, which is great for students who are beginning to learn how to program.

I feel that this book is designed for someone who has very little experience in computer programming and I would not recommend this book to someone who is already well-versed in other computer languages.A much smaller book, such as "Schaum's Outline of Programming With Fortran 77 (Schaum's Outlines)," would be better for advanced programmers who want to learn Fortran.

Unacceptable printing.
I am returning this item because the printing is unacceptably poor.The book is softbound and yet the pages appear to be photocopies, and not good ones.The syntax definitions (the most important part, for me), are in gray-on-gray box text that, in this printing, is almost unreadable.

Good and Solid Presentation of the FORTRAN language
An excellent way for begginers to understand the structure of FORTRAN. Useful also for experienced programmers with a detailed index table. ... Read more

Product Description
This Fortran 90 module, part pf PH Modular Series for Introductory Engineering,is by the authors of the best-selling FORTRAN 77 book, Nyhoff and Leestma. Themodule, designed for a short course, will introduce the important concepts ofFortran 90. The authors will incorporate a strong pedagogical approach thatfeatures examples and exercises for engineers and scientists, programmingpointers, and programming problems. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

This Book is not for Beginners
This book does not seem like an introduction to the Fortran language but and introduction to Leestma's and Nyhoff's book "Fortran 90 for Engineers and Scientists" (no "Introduction to"). They reference that book a few times in this one saying something along the lines of, "For a more in depth description, consult "Fortran 90 for Engineers and Scientists." They even leave out the whole DO WHILE construct and instead substitute this ridiculous General DO loop with conditional exit statements (I do not know if they left out because of a new f90 type of convention, but it is upward compatible from f77). Sure it works, but there is no reason to have an extra line of code where you can have 1. Plus you have to negate the conditional statement you would have in the DO WHILE statement making it difficult to know what is going on right away. Some people may not see this as much of a problem, but for a beginner, they need to be able to read the code and make sense of it easily. And some of the applications seem a bit ridiculous. Not that they are wrong, but just how the programs actually work (like entering pollution data). I really do not like how they took up a whole section for an application. It gets the idea across, but they are not the applications I would have chosen, especially in the conditional and looping sections.

It also seems as though there is a lot of interpreting left up to the reader on some of the concepts. There are some ideas the reader may not be sure they can extend or not. This book was definitely a shorted version of "Fortran 90 for Engineers and Scientists." If you want to learn Fortran 90 get that one, not this one (especially if you're new to programming). It is a bit more expensive, but it is worth it. Leestma and Nyhoff know what they are talking about but this cut down version is just horrible.

very bad
It was pretty older than I thought. I don't like the quality. I am not gonna buy anything from this seller.

Print quality; reference value
First of all, the publisher/printer should be ashamed of themselves for this printing. It really looks like a bad photocopy, and there is a lot of text embedded in greyscale blocks that is quite straining to read. Many of the text blocks are rotated with respect to the page. I am usually not a stickler for print quality, but this is egregious. Really the only reasons not to photocopy this book are to respect the copyright, save time, or, perhaps, get the unremarkable paperback binding.

Pedagogically, the book is standard but pretty good. It is not an inspired treatise on how to think about computing like "Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs," but Nyhoff and Leetsma is solid, with decent examples, full small programs to illustrate concepts, and nice exercises, some of which require some creativity. I will admit I am still working on the book, but from what I've seen so far it is decent. It does teach some good programming practices (like commenting and abstraction), which I appreciate in a world so full of people content with writing unreadable spaghetti code. A beginning programmer would profit from going through the book linearly.

I'm not convinced, however, that such an exposition is appropriate for a language like Fortran 90. This is mostly a "legacy" language; aside from some holdouts (like my research collaborator) very few people these days write software from scratch in Fortran. Furthermore, I have trouble believing that many current students have their first programming experiences in this language. Much more common is a relatively programming-literate person confronted with the task of comprehending, enhancing, and debugging an often poorly written, sprawling numerical engine developed over years (or decades). This is helped by a well-organized reference work, and here the book is limited: even simple things like a list of functions handling double-precision mathematics are absent or scattered widely through the book. That is to say nothing of the complete omission of more advanced tools, like the MPI libraries used heavily for numerical computing on clusters.

If you are the rare beginner learning Fortran 90 as your first language, this book will do you good. If you have even minimal programming experience (consistent, say, with a decent undergraduate education in engineering or the physical sciences) and are confronted with Fortran 90 on the job, it will get you started but do little else. I wish I knew of a better text on Fortran, and when I find one I will be thankful.

A Good Introduction -- But Nothing More
"Introduction to FORTRAN 90" will get you on the road to programming in FORTRAN 90 post haste.The foundations of the langauge are covered thoroughly and clearly with plenty of good examples.

But FORTRAN 90 is a big language and it is not well served in this rather limited volume.Much that is useful and important in FORTRAN 90 you will find no mention of here.If you are doing some serious real-world programming, you will outgrow this book in, I predict, less than three months.

Maybe this is a good buy if you know flat nothing about the language and want to start learning.But mind your budget, because if you continue FORTRAN90 programming you're going to need something better before long.

Exactly what I needed
I needed a book to get up and running in my new job as a Fortran programmer. This was just the book to do that! My job is in the engineering field and the book not only covered code that pertained to engineering concepts, but it also covered the necessary code and syntax that I was likely to encounter in the custom-built program that I will be maintaining/enhancing. It was just the right amount of delivery without being too much--enough to get my skill set updated. I would buy it again. It was worth every penny. ... Read more

Product Description
This is the greatly revised and greatly expanded Second Edition of the hugely popular Numerical Recipes: The Art of Scientific Computing.The product of a unique collaboration among four leading scientists in academic research and industry Numerical Recipes is a complete text and reference book on scientific computing.In a self-contained manner it proceeds from mathematical and theoretical considerations to actual practical computer routines. With over 100 new routines bringing the total to well over 300, plus upgraded versions of the original routines, this new edition remains the most practical, comprehensive handbook of scientific computing available today.Highlights of the new material include:-A new chapter on integral equations and inverse methods-Multigrid and other methods for solving partial differential equations-Improved random number routines -Wavelet transforms -The statistical bootstrap method-A new chapter on "less-numerical" algorithms including compression coding and arbitrary precision arithmetic.The book retains the informal easy-to-read style that made the first edition so popular, while introducing some more advanced topics.It is an ideal textbook for scientists and engineers and an indispensable reference for anyone who works in scientific computing. The Second Edition is availabe in FORTRAN, the traditional language for numerical calculations and in the increasingly popular C language. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (10)

It's Still On My Top Shelf
I've had this book for a long time and, unlike some other's copies, it's still intact. The exposition is so well done that I occasionally read passages just for
entertainment (a rarity for me). I am now implementing some routines from the
f90 "second edition" and expect to get faster results (but can't confirm that yet).
On the irritating "licencing" issue: Some years ago my company attempted to "do the
right thing" and obtain a site license for some of the f77 routines. We never got
a response back! I have a hunch that some lawyers wrote the licensing text but that
maintaining a licencing infrastructure was too much trouble Press et al to bother with. I've encountered a similar non-response when trying to license some songs
from song writers for a limited release DVD.

It may be a pig, but it's OUR pig.
First, I want to weigh in on the general controversy over Press et al.'s treatment of the code as proprietary.This is a joke and I think was basically intended as such.A lot of the odd job programming world still works on the honor system, and it works, because enough of us respect what is done right and we respect other people's labor.But if you've already plunked down your $60 for the book, and you have a program that in some sense you are paid for (not that you're Adobe or someone big), they expect you to be crawling to them for permission to use a single routine.And yet these routines make use of other routines that I really doubt they wrote.I see the same basic code floating around a number of places.And for some things, it's so straightforward it seems crazy to say that it is "their" routine.

At the same time, the code is clear, well explained with examples, and--most important--easy to modify.Given a choice between two versions, one which was elegant but a bit confusing and one that was straightforward, they did the second.

Given that there's a new edition, and that we are 30 years past FORTRAN 77, you might wonder whether this book should still be in circulation.But there are a lot of industrial machines that are still running programs written in 77, say for process control, and it's nice to be able to alter them as opposed to starting from scratch.For example, you might find that a minimization routine actually can help for a program running the control of a valve in a mixing vat.Some of these routines are slow, but my attitude is, that just gives you more time to drink your coffee and look around, though of course, you might not like what you see. [12]

Outstanding reference book on numerical algorithms
This is the single best book that I have found for teaching numerical methods in science and engineering to upper division undergraduates and graduate students.Students often comment that this should be the selected text even in the programming course because it provides both an overview of the methods and examples that demonstrate the application.The discussions are excellent and the Fortran 77 programs easy to follow even if one is more familiar with C or C++.You should not purchase the Fortran 90 version of this book without getting this book as well because the Fortran 90 book does not contain the excellent discussion of the methods and procedures.Rather it references this book for discussion and simply provides the F90 versions of the routines.

Proprietary source the Achilles' heel for non-students
I first bought this text in 1994 while doing scientific programming for graduate school work. A fellow graduate student had suggested I use an undocumented routine that (I later discovered) came from Numerical Recipes (NR). I was impressed enough with NR's presentation of ideas that I also bought the example book ISBN 0521437210 (which I've hardly cracked since) and a diskette of source code (which cost as much as the book but worth it). I was able to do a lot of basic research quickly with NR code, and I still occasionally use NR's routines.

The authors have certainly done a good job assimilating a lot of material. Since other reviewers have done well to highlight the importance and utility of this landmark book, there is no need to repeat those sentiments here. However, to this title's detriment, the authors consider their book to be a proprietary library of source code more valuable than the explanatory text discussing it (one can in fact download the text on-line though it's hardly worth the hassle). This perception is ironic since the authors confess that "the lineage of many programs in common circulation is often unclear" (p.xviii), and many details ofpresentation, ideas, and algorithms are clearly "borrowed" from other excellent (some now out-of-print) numerical methods books or journals.

I often wondered why NR routines occasionally adopted bizarre and/or obviously inefficient programming structures - over time I decided that this was probably done to make these algorithms appear as so not to clearly violate other published material. As a student, NR's legal disclaimers regarding derivative works (p.xvi) never bothered me and I was willing to overlook the sometimes unpolished source code insofar as it functioned properly. However, as a professional I now find the lack of fair-use provisions on the uncompiled source way too restrictive to rely on these routines in good conscience (I have to buy another textbook or license for every soft copy or machine upon which the source code resides!). I suspect this policy ultimately hurts NR's textbook sales: it would be nice to able to use and pass along the source code between professional colleagues without restriction because most would certainly buy (if they don't already own) the textbook to understand what the source does (just as I did). Source code used in scientific programming is practically worthless without proper documentation, and there's no better documentation than a full length textbook!

I have since expanded my numerical methods library to other references supporting true public-domain codes. With an expanded basis of comparison, I regret to say that I am becoming less and less impressed with NR's implementations and explanations. I am finding many of NR's algorithms to be inefficient or unnecessarily approximate, and - on rare occasion - buggy. There have been quite a few bugs uncovered over the years, and the NR web site has done a good job of keeping track of them (although I know of at least one bug uncorrected by NR to this day).

This book is excellent for students wanting a good reference for quick and dirty types of analyses or scientific computing. Professional programmers, scientists, engineers, specialists or analysts performing software development for laboratory or scientific research would be well advised to reference this title, but ultimately they will likely need to rely other resources if they require efficient and/or unrestricted (public-domain) source codes for their work.

(P.S. - A reviewer elsewhere noted that the "quality of the binding was terrible" and I've also found this to be the case. My hardcover is literally had to be taped on after a few years of use.)

A Useful Tool for Programmers, Researchers, and Students
This book contains hundreds of "canned codes" in the FORTRAN language.The book provides several variations of many popular numerical techniques and provides the most stream line (comp. time) codes available.Most codes allow for optimization to be build in, such as an RK4 (4th Order Runge-Kutta) with variable steps sizes.Great if you don't want to write your own code for a subroutine, or it you just don't know the method well enough to write it yourself. The book also provides some basic explaination of the techniques and codes with is very helpful so that the code is less of a black box, although its not that detailed.

There is also a CD available that has the codes already written and ready to go.I prefer to type it in on my own, or just make my own because it gives a better udnerstanding of what the code is doing.The biggest turn-off for me is that some codes have subroutines upon subroutines which can make things a mess.

All around a useful tool for programmers, researchers, and students. ... Read more

Product Description

Classical FORTRAN: Programming for Engineering and Scientific Applications, Second Edition teaches how to write programs in the Classical dialect of FORTRAN, the original and still most widely recognized language for numerical computing. This edition retains the conversational style of the original, along with its simple, carefully chosen subset language and its focus on floating-point calculations.

New to the Second Edition

• Additional case study on file I/O
• More about CPU timing on Pentium processors
• More about the g77 compiler and Linux

With numerous updates and revisions throughout, this second edition continues to use case studies and examples to introduce the language elements and design skills needed to write graceful, correct, and efficient programs for real engineering and scientific applications. After reading this book, students will know what statements to use and where as well as why to avoid the others, helping them become expert FORTRAN programmers.

Customer Reviews (2)

Excellent book for the beginning Fortran programmer
While this book doesn't include many of the newer additions to the Fortran language, it does cover all of the basics in enough detail that a beginning scientific or engineering programmer can easily write their own programs using it.However, the real value of this book is that it is written in a very simple and easy to follow (and sometimes even entertaining) style.It includes only the necessary details, but doesn't assume that the reader is familiar with any of the idiosyncracies of the Fortran language.Every topic includes a fundamental description of how the feature works, instructions and examples to demonstrate its use, as well as examples of how not to use it.The index is very thorough, making this a great reference book as well.

I highly recommend this book to anyone that is interested in learning to write scientific or engineering applications in Fortran.The chapters on coding style and "what not to do" alone are in my opinion worth the cost of the book.

how about newer versions of Fortran?
I am unsure how much new this book really offers over Fortran texts of the last decade. It goes over the standard syntax in an adequate fashion. But no better or worse than most such other texts.

The author has chosen to describe Fortran 77, which may be still the most widely used variant of Fortran. But perhaps more discussion about the newer versions that came out in the 1990s might make this book more relevant to some potential readers.

The style of the examples is totally procedural, as befits that version of Fortran. To some extent, this may not matter, given the length of the examples. And it lets students concentrate on coding the numerical aspects of their solutions. But it can leave them unaware of the scaling difficulties when such programs grow. Which is an acknowledged problem with Fortran libraries, given the length of time [decades] that some of these libraries have been maintained and added to. ... Read more

Product Description
A complete and authoritative description of Fortran 90 and 95, this book is intended for both new and experienced users of this powerful software for scientific and numerical computing. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

No Simple Explainations
If you are new to Fortran and learn by doing, this is not the book for you. It is difficult to find explainations in one location.For example, when writing out a variable to the screen, you may want spaces put into the output.Where do you find the "coding" for spaces?Well, it's hidden very well in an example 20 pages later from the original text on the "write" statement.Also, I am currently writing code and need to use the 'call' statement.Unfortunately, something as useful as the call statement is hard to find in this book.I have had a difficult time using this book as a reference without having to spend a lot of time going through the whole chapter to find the information I needed.Maybe it just needs to be organized differently.

I learn by looking at other people's coding and interpreting and investigating.This book does not lend itself very well to that type of method.Maybe it works for pure programmers, but I am an engineer and need results quickly.I hope this review helps you.

Concentrated Acid for FORTRAN 95
For the experienced FORTRAN 77 programmer, this is the best book you can own for learning FORTRAN 90/95.Don't be fooled by its unimpressive size, the content is what's important and the only metaphor I can find is this: the contents of this little jewel are like concentrated acid.I'm not at all surprised the authors of Numerical Recipes in FORTRAN 95 site this book as their favorite reference.This book is not for the faint at heart, but then, what successful programmer is?This rare jewel combined with Adams, Brainard, Martin, Smith, and Wagener's "FORTRAN 95 Handbook" is all the aspiring FOTRAN 90/95 programmer needs.

One example of the many gold nuggets I found in this title that I could find mentioned almost nowhere else:Instead of declaring a function as EXTERNAL so that it may be used as an actual argument in a procedure reference, Metcalf and Reid recommend using an interface block in the scope of the procedure reference using the actual function name, and a similar interface block in the referenced procedure (using the dummy argument procedure name), thereby allowing the compiler to envoke all the checking associated with explicit interfaces.Using the EXTERNAL attribute for this scenario does not allow that depth of checking, and, indeed, Chapman makes it seem as if the EXTERNAL statement is required to pass a function name as an actual argument.Adam's et al write that the use of interface blocks makes this use of EXTERNAL effectively obsolescent (p 473).

I did have one problem with my edition of "FORTRAN 90/95 Explained", the index was bound incorrectly (the pages were out of sequence).

Fortran 90/95 Explained
Fortran 90/95 explained by Metcalf and Reid isa reference work that covers systematically all the fundamental concepts in the Fortran 90 and 95 programming language standard. The text is concise, yet it is sprinkledwith examples.I consult the book often and usually find quickly what I amlooking for.

Essential reference book
There are two types of essential books to be on your bookshelves.Books to learn from and books to reference.

This book is the essential reference.Once you learn Fortran, this is the book to turn to when youneed to know the details of the language.

I find myself using this bookover and over again for my research project.It's short, concise,absolutely accurate and complete, making it the perfect book to have rightnext to your keyboard.

In response to the 1 star review, this is _not_the book to learn the language from if you know nothing about Fortran, butit would be a serious mistake not to stock your bookshelf with this gem ofa book.

The first F90 book I reach for
In my opinion this book gives a thorough, yet concise account of the Fortran 90 programming language and its more recent Fortran 95 revision.Its virtue lies in its unambiguous definition of terms, programmingconstructs, function definitions etc.It is ideal for the experiencedprogrammer who wants to know how to code a specific task in Fortran 90.Itis most definitely not suitable, nor aimed at either the novice programmeror the programmer of the Fortran 66 era; both of whom need a slower, moreexample and algorithm driven, introduction to the Fortran of the 90's.

I have successfully used this book for teaching, but only to experienced Fortran 77 programmers eager to learn about the new language, and with the aid of highly structured lectures and supervised computer tutorial sessions.I would not recommend it for student self study.

As anexperienced programmer, what I most like about this book is that I can look up a term in the index, be referred to a small number of entries in the text, and rest assured that in those few pages I have all the information I require on that topic.Other Fortran books I have read frequently do not document, or pay scant regard to, important features of the language such as optional arguments to I/O statements orgenericfunction disambiguation.

If I were only allowed to keep just one Fortran90 text book this wouldbe the one. ... Read more

Product Description
Writing technical applications in a modern object-oriented approach, using Fortran 90 or 95, can be problematic. This book teaches how to employ the principles of object-oriented programming to produce clear, highly efficient executable codes (rather than focusing on the traditional procedural abilities of Fortran). This text is an excellent harbinger to all the features of the finalized, fully object-oriented Fortran 200X. In addition to covering the OOP methodologies, the basic foundation of the language and solid programming skills are reviewed, making the book valuable also as a good migration tool for experienced Fortran programmers that want to smoothly pick up the OOP paradigm.The author highlights common themes by using comparisons with Matlab® and C++ and uses numerous cross-referenced examples to convey all concepts quickly and clearly. Complete code for the examples is included on the accompanying CD. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

book contains lots of resources, but its usefulness is limited
This book is quite nice for the spoiled programmer who has been using a modern OO language such as C++ or python, and demonstrates methods to implement OO concepts as classes, overloading and polymorphism in Fortran 90/95 (F9X in the remainder of this review)

This however is also its main weakness: Even though F9X can be forced into these concepts, using those concepts, especially the proposed polymorphism method, is a tedious task, and makes a lot of the magic of OO programming disappear.

What is lacking in this book is an explicit overview of concepts which cannot be implemented easily in F9X, such as destructors, interfaces and inheritance, as that might be reason enough to forget about trying to implement your program in F9X.

My main conclusion after reading this is that trying to do OO in F9X is incomplete and way too much trouble, and thus the need for this book is rather limited.

Limited Usefulness
This book requires that the reader already knows about object-oriented programming.It gives little information on the subject.Instead, it gives details about how to use Fortran to implement those concepts.The details it gives will already be familiar to Fortran users, though not for that purpose.I was hoping for a book for the many scientists and engineers who have learned and used Fortran well, but who have not learned about object-oriented methods.This book isn't it.The only audience for which it is useful is the opposite: an experienced object-oriented programmer who wishes to switch from another language to Fortran.

The above occupies about a third of the book.Another third consists of elementary material that is not particularly relevant even to that audience, such as memory management, linked lists, and linear algebra.Object orientation is mentioned only peripherally in that material.

The last third consists of appendices that are mostly padding.There are language tables that are available in the manual with any compiler, and source code which repeats with variations examples in the main text.

This Book Breathes New Life Into Fortran
This is a great book for any Fortran programmer (new and old).The author does a fantastic job of introducing OOP for Fortran 90/95.I had no idea that all kinds of neat OO concepts could be implemented in Fortran.I almost want to go back and rewrite my big FEA code using these concepts.

What I like most is that the author contrasts implementation details between Fortran, C++, and MATLAB to futher enrich the topics being discussed.Obviously, with this style, the author knows his audience (engineers and scientists).

I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS BOOK! ... Read more

Product Description
Based on a best seller, this book is a complete and thorough presentationof standard Fortran 90 with special applications in science and engineering. This book emphasizes problem- solving and structured program development following basic software engineering principles. Its clear andconcise presentation is perfect for readers with no previous programming experience. KEYTOPICS: 30 special Application Sections illustrate problem solving using a variety of interestingengineering and science problems. A four-step problem-solving method is used in each application. A largenumber of complete programs and sample runs throughout the book illustrate basic programming conceptsand demonstrate good structure and style. They are selected from a wide range of areas in engineering,math, and science.Engineers and scientists using standard Fortran 90. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

good condition and the price was right.
Got here in reasonable amount of time in good (practically new) condition and the price was right (about half of what I would have paid for it at my college bookstore).

A GREAT book for beginners!
This book is a fairly easy and simple introduction to Fortran 90. It is well directed towards the beginner and the beginner will most definitely profit from buying this book. The example codes are well chosen and theexercises provide ample practice in learning the basics of the language.The book covers much of the Fortran 90 syntax and the language reference inthe appendix is handy. Presentation wise it is well constructed with abi-colour approach which is good and makes the concepts easy to grasp,especially for a textbook, as compared to a one colour layout like a bookwith black print all over. ... Read more

Product Description
Digital Visual Fortran is the latest version of a major programming language tool used by scientists and engineers. Written by key technical writers from the Digital Visual Fortran product team, Digital Visual Fortran Programmer's Guide presents in printed form the critical portions of the official programmer's guide, previously only available online. The result is the authoritative book on Digital Visual Fortran's features and how to use them to create effective applications.


Digital Visual Fortran is the language of choice for computation-intensive scientific and engineering applications, financial applications, and other programs. Digital recently acquired Fortran technology and rights from Microsoft that allows them to use the Microsoft Developer Studio Integrated Development Environment, which is featured in Microsoft's Visual C++ and Visual Basic. The result is that Digital Visual Fortran is much easier to use and looks and works much like Microsoft's industry-leading programming products for other market segments.

The official programmer's guide to Digital Visual Fortran for Version 6.0A
Authors are experts from the Digital Visual Fortran product group
New Digital Fortran version include Microsoft interface and object technologies ... Read more

Product Description
This is the second edition of the first introductory textbook written for the FORTRAN 90 standard. It remains suitable for the novice scientific programmer, drawing on a larger number of examples and exercises in this new edition. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

great
this book is great when working in the mainframe....this helped me so much... i was so confused when processing my programs... but this book guides you step to step...thanks ... Read more

Product Description

Product Description
The Fortran 95 Handbook, a comprehensive reference work for theFortran programmer and implementor, contains a complete description ofthe Fortran 95 programming language. The chapters follow the samesequence of topics as the Fortran 95 standard, but contain a morethorough and informal explanation of the language's features and manymore examples. Appendices describe all the intrinsic features, thedeprecated features, and the complete syntax of the language. TheHandbook also includs a feature not found in the standard: across reference of all the syntax terms, giving the rule that defineseach term and all the rules that reference it. Major new features addedin Fortran 95 are the FORALL statement and construct, pure and elementalprocedures, and structure and pointer default initialization. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

horrible
I think this book is horrible. You can read pages and pages, chapters and chapters and at the end you won't be able to write a single line of code.

Complete language reference, but not for rookies
This book covers the complete FORTRAN 95 language definition. The author apparentely intended it as clarifification of the ISO/J3 standard. And that's just what it is. This book even reproduces the complete official F95 grammar in one of its appendices. It has a more-than-complete index, which helps you find what you're looking for most of the time. Don't expect examples in this book; there aren't any.

If you're new to programming and you wish to learn FORTRAN, don't buy this book. You cannot learn the language from it, unless you already have a lot of programming experience in F77 or other languages.If you want to know all the capabilities and limitations of F95, or if you're going to write an F95 compiler, this book has got to be the number one book on your wishlist.

Useful, but needed information hard to find
I am an experienced user of Fortran 77, who is returning to Fortran after several years absence.I qualified as language lawyer for Fortran 77 and could quote chapter and verse of the standard.

The new syntax for Fortran90/95 is fairly straightforward.I need to no how the new elements of thelanguage inter-relate.For example, when assumed shape arrays are used ina subroutine, an interface definition is required.I tried reading thisbook before attempting this and could not find the requirement.Even afterlearning this experimentally and from another book, I still can't locatethe requirement in this book.I have had similar experiences with othersyntactical inter-relationships.

This book contains a lot of informationon Fortran 90/95, but I can't recommend it either as a tutorial or as anadvanced reference.Unfortunately, there are no other good alternatives inprint and this may be the best of the bunch.

A thorough reference to Fortran 95.
This is not a textbook, but it is an important reference for the Fortran 95 programmer. It covers the features inherited from Fortran 77 as wellas the new features in Fortran 90 and 95. ... Read more

Product Description
"The right way to read a FORTRAN book," the author of this one tells us now that we've read his almost to its last page, "is by a series of skimming passes. Each time through you pick up a bit more of the nitty-gritty detail. When you pick up an IBM manual, for instance, first flip through it looking for the jokes. There aren't any, so go back and flip through again, getting familiar with the overall idea. Then flip through from back to front, side to side, and top to bottom. If there's a centerfold, you're in the wrong publication! Each time through, you'll be looking for specific details connected with whatever you are doing at the time on the computer. After a while, the whole works will have seeped through your skin by osmosis." This introduction to FORTRAN works like that, squared. Or unsquared. Anyway, it's unlike any technical manual or textbook you've ever seen. You may think you're chuckling knowingly at some felicitous irreverence the author has craftily inserted, or gravely pondering a remark by one of his cartoon animals, or groaning over an especially outrageous pun. You may even think you're just coloring the giraffe yellow. But you're really learning FORTRAN—how to use it, how to keep it from using you—on the sly. High school kids can deal with it. The book will also appeal to, like, college sophomores, since it revels in a brand of collegiate humor that is just not going to go away, that is going to last—alas—through generations of computers. And sophomores, nowadays, are finding that FORTRAN is more often a prerequisite or academic requirement than is, oh, French, just to mention another popular modern language.

The book teaches its readers all they need to know to get a start at programming real computers about such things as algorithms, the arithmetic "if," array storage, artichokes, assignment statements, branches, bugs (including those in programs), "call" statements, complex constants, conditional branches, control statements, dimension statements, "do" loops, dummy arguments, errors, exponential notation, floating point numbers, floormats, the Gauss-Seidel method, "go-to" statements, hierarchy, integer field specifications, Kaufman, line printers, logical assignment statements, mixed modes, nested implied "do" loops, parentheses, prunes, "read" statements, recursion relations, relational operators, specification statements, Spiro Whatsisname, storage, subprograms, "type" statements, unary and ornery operators, "write" statements, X-field specifications, and you-can't-get-there-from-here statements.

That's not all, folks, and not in that order. Like any good book that's not a dictionary, this one is ordered in a functional rather than alphabetical way, but some of these topics think they deserve top billing, so...

Roger Kaufman first tried out his coloring book in a course he taught to MIT freshmen. They liked it just fine, and said so in their "formal course evaluation." They probably learned FORTRAN better—more accurately, more memorably—than they would have from some stuffy text.

Dr. Kaufman wrote the book. I mean, he wrote it, the actual words you see, with a pen. He also drew the pictures, diagrams, flow charts, and things. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

In the Beginning....
This book was the best $6.95 I ever spent as a freshman engineer during the punch card days. The book is still useful reference for entry level programmers. The 'Dr. Seuss'-like presentation style doesn't go over the edge, while providing fodder for the doodling reader with a highlighter. Clearly many highlighter colors were required to assimilate Fortran carriage control. When it's all over, you have learned FORTRAN, guaranteed - or "you deserve your money back".

One of the best entertaining textbooks.
Dr. Kaufman's book is still among my favorite textbooks. It presents the basics of FORTRAN programming language in an easy-to-understand format with enoughsatire to actually make learning fun. The book is an older text,but covers most of the basics required for coding. The concepts of storage,expressions, and logic are applicable to any language.

Too bad it really isn't a coloring book...
Naive me, I thought this was a coloring book.What a great idea, I thought.Unfortunately "A FORTRAN Coloring Book" is actually a hand-written college textbook.In its defense, it is mildly humorous inspots and gives you a look back at life in the punch card days.I reallywish it was a coloring book, though. ... Read more