This is the mail archive of the
fortran@gcc.gnu.org
mailing list for the GNU Fortran project.
Re: General compiler question.
- From: Scott Robert Ladd <coyote at coyotegulch dot com>
- To: John Vaul <john dot vaul at ntlworld dot com>
- Cc: fortran at gcc dot gnu dot org
- Date: Tue, 26 Oct 2004 08:05:22 -0400
- Subject: Re: General compiler question.
- References: <8008CA72-2728-11D9-9320-000A95B93DF6@ntlworld.com>
John Vaul wrote:
Given that gfortran is written is C, why don't we just use C instead of
Fortran?
Different tasks, different languages.
C was originally intended as a system-level programming language that
would be portable across platforms while providing reasonable
performance. Fortran was designed to simplify the programming of
numerical applications.
In other words: C is designed for writing compilers; Fortran is designed
for crunching numbers. So it's natural for Fortran to be implemented in C.
Are all fortran compilers written in C?
Long ago, they were written in assembler; I doubt many people said "We
don't need Fortran; let's write everything in assembler."
--
Scott Robert Ladd
site: http://www.coyotegulch.com
blog: http://chaoticcoyote.blogspot.com