Full Fortran 95 Support for .NET and Win32
FTN95 offers full Win32 and .NET support to the Fortran programmer. Full Fortran 95 language support is available for both Win32 and .NET projects enabling effortless porting of legacy applications. FTN95 provides a comprehensive Fortran solution for the Windows platform.
General Features
- Full Fortran 95 language compatibility.
- Comprehensive integration with Microsoft Visual Studio .NET.
- Standalone editor - Plato3.
- The worlds best runtime checking.
- Very fast compilation speed.
- Excellent compile-time diagnostics.
.NET Specific Features
- Full Fortran .NET debugging facilities.
- Effortless porting of existing Fortran code to .NET.
- No language restrictions.
- Use Salford CHECKMATE technology within .NET programs.
- Fast runtime performance.
- Simple inter-language operability.
- Recompile existing code and use it immediately with .NET.
- No steep .NET learning curve to be negotiated.
- Easily attach a .NET Windows Forms front end to a Fortran backend.
- Create and manipulate .NET objects within Fortran.
Win32 Specific Features
- Visual Studio .NET integrated debugger.
- Binary compatibility with FTN77 object and library code.
- Complete I/O library compatibility with FTN77.
- Inline Mnemonic Assembler using CODE...EDOC.
- Microsoft Visual C++ Interoperability.
- Salford C/C++ Interoperability.
- GUI building with Salford Clearwin+.
- Full support for REAL*10, COMPLEX*20.
- Virtual Common.
- Small EXE and OBJ files.
The Worlds Best Runtime Checking
With Salford CHECKMATE technology, FTN95 provides the worlds best Fortran runtime checking. Gain complete confidence in your code.
Detects Most Programming Errors
It is very easy to make programming errors in Fortran which are not picked up by the compiler and which go on to produce undefined errors later during execution. FTN77 programmers have been able to use the /CHECK and /UNDEF options to check out their programs thoroughly as they execute. This facility has found many many programming errors, and some of our customers specify that Fortran code must run in /UNDEF mode as part of their internal quality assurance. Now this facility is available in FTN95. Here are just some of the things that are checked for you dynamically:
- Check that subroutines/functions are called with the right number of arguments of the right type. This check works even in traditional Fortran programs which have not used the INTERFACE statement or in programs constructed from several files with inconsistent INTERFACE statements.
- Checks that array subscripts do not go out of bounds. FTN95 performs this check even for arrays declared with bounds of (*) or assumed-size or ALLOCATE'd arrays. The only requirement is that in the case of argument arrays the caller must also have been compiled in CHECK mode (normally entire programs are compiled in CHECK mode anyway).
- Checks that integer and floating point calculations do not overflow
Using the /UNDEF option you can check that a program does not use variables before they have been defined. Although the compiler can warn in simple cases, often it is only at run-time that this problem can be detected. The undefined check works with everything - common data, local variables, allocated data, even individual elements of an array (which can be partially undefined).
- Checks that arguments passed to routines as constants are not treated as variables and altered by the callee (or anything that it calls). The effect of doing this is normally very insidious, usually the constant is overwritten, corrupting the program at a later point.
- Checks that whole array operations on arrays where conformability cannot be checked at compile time are in fact conformable.
- Checks that unavailable objects - such as arguments that are not available through the ENTRY point in use, or absent optional arguments, or unallocated ALLOCATABLE objects - are not in fact used.
- Checks that references are not made through 'dangling' or unassigned pointers.
Needless to say, checking for all these error conditions can slow down program execution considerably. However, once a program has been debugged in this way, it is only necessary to recompile without these options (or with the /OPTIMISE option) to produce fast production code.
CHECKMATE Example Code
- Array bounds violations.
- Zero trip DO loops.
- Calling a Fortran routine with an incorrect number of arguments.
- Calling a routine with incorrect argument types.
- Overwriting constant data.
- Use of variables before they have been assigned a value.
- Floating point overflows.
- Calling a Fortran function as if it were a subroutine.
- Passing an array to a Fortran subroutine where the array is too small.
- Passing an array where the lower bound is greater than the upper bound.
- Use of dangling pointers.
CHECKMATE can be turned on and off with the use of compiler switches or configuration options within Visual Studio .NET. CHECKMATE is available for use with .NET and Win32 projects.
Visual Studio .NET Integration
FTN95 is available with Visual Studio .NET integration, with a full feature set available for Win32 and .NET. Create and debug multiple language solutions for .NET and Win32 all within the one environment.
GUI Development
Clearwin+ and Visual Clearwin are available for GUI development for Win32 and .NET.
Salford Clearwin+ and Visual Clearwin
Salford Clearwin+
Salford ClearWin+ is an easy to use GUI builder which is designed for Fortran programmers. By learning a few simple subroutine calls and format strings you can take any existing Win32 Fortran program and add a full GUI interface with windows, menus, popup dialog boxes, listboxes, edit boxes, bitmaps, toolbars, etc. etc. Callback mechanisms and similar functionality is handled for the programmer by Clearwin+.
Salford Clearwin+ is very concise, 'Hello World' requires only 4 lines of Fortran code. Whilst Clearwin+ provides the majority of interaction with the Win32 API full direct access is also possible. Applications written using Clearwin+ can also contain graphics regions, enabling charts and graphs of all descriptions to be included within applications. OpenGL graphics can also be included and sample code is provided.
Supporting Software Package
FTN95 ships with a great supporting software package including:
- Plato3 - a new standalone IDE.
- SDBG standalone Win32 debugger.
- Automake from Polyhedron Software.
- Compatibility with most third-party Fortran products.