INDUSTRY
Increased Fortran 2003 language features in new release of NAG's f95
NAG, the worlds leading provider of numerical algorithms announces extensive new functionality of its NAGWare f95 Compiler. At the new release of 5.1, NAG further enhances the acclaimed NAGWare compiler that prestigiously started with the launch of the world's first Fortran 90 compiler 15 years ago. 
Release 5.1 continues to support the full Fortran 95 language, while retaining backwards compatibility to previous releases. Additional new Fortran 2003 enhancements provide early access to more of the Fortran language of the future. These include the addition of more object-oriented features to add to those that established Release 5.0 as a leader in this area. The C Interoperability enhancements bring a standard means of calling C code from Fortran and vice versa. This new release also makes available further Fortran 2003 advances, for example in the areas of Input/Output and access to the computing environment. Key features of the new release are improvements in performance and error checking. Ian Thompson, Research Associate at Loughborough University reported "My programs are much cleaner thanks to the new features in release 5.1 of the compiler. This may seem like a minor issue, but there are literally hundreds of routines in my programs which pass these arrays between them, and simpler interfaces lead to fewer mistakes. It's also useful to be able to write subroutines which decide the size of their return arrays internally, and to have allocatable arrays as structure components". Rob Meyer, CEO of NAG commented "Because NAG has 35 years of experience in creating long-lived, portable code we designed the NAGWare f95 compiler to help ensure a long life for user applications. We do this by helping users write very "clean" code that ports readily to the next generation of hardware and operating systems. We also recognize that applications have to live in the real world of backward compatibility and with new code added to existing models. Thus, permitting standardised interoperability with C and object-oriented features sit comfortably alongside strict standards compliance and helpful error messages. It's NAG's way of helping our users ensure that their investment in code lives a long and productive life." NAGWare f95 is available now on all major Unix platforms. Later in the year an implementation featuring a new IDE will be available for Microsoft Windows. New Fortran 2003 features: • C interoperability • Type-bound procedures • Input/output features (various) • Stream input/output • Abstract derived types • Individual component accessibility • Abstract interfaces and the PROCEDURE statement • Public entities of private type • The ISO_FORTRAN_ENV module • The IMPORT statement • INTENT for pointers • Square brackets for array constructors • The SOURCE= specifier on ALLOCATE • Error message retrieval (ERRMSG= and IOMSG=) • Access to the command line and environment variables • Character kind selection
Release 5.1 continues to support the full Fortran 95 language, while retaining backwards compatibility to previous releases. Additional new Fortran 2003 enhancements provide early access to more of the Fortran language of the future. These include the addition of more object-oriented features to add to those that established Release 5.0 as a leader in this area. The C Interoperability enhancements bring a standard means of calling C code from Fortran and vice versa. This new release also makes available further Fortran 2003 advances, for example in the areas of Input/Output and access to the computing environment. Key features of the new release are improvements in performance and error checking. Ian Thompson, Research Associate at Loughborough University reported "My programs are much cleaner thanks to the new features in release 5.1 of the compiler. This may seem like a minor issue, but there are literally hundreds of routines in my programs which pass these arrays between them, and simpler interfaces lead to fewer mistakes. It's also useful to be able to write subroutines which decide the size of their return arrays internally, and to have allocatable arrays as structure components". Rob Meyer, CEO of NAG commented "Because NAG has 35 years of experience in creating long-lived, portable code we designed the NAGWare f95 compiler to help ensure a long life for user applications. We do this by helping users write very "clean" code that ports readily to the next generation of hardware and operating systems. We also recognize that applications have to live in the real world of backward compatibility and with new code added to existing models. Thus, permitting standardised interoperability with C and object-oriented features sit comfortably alongside strict standards compliance and helpful error messages. It's NAG's way of helping our users ensure that their investment in code lives a long and productive life." NAGWare f95 is available now on all major Unix platforms. Later in the year an implementation featuring a new IDE will be available for Microsoft Windows. New Fortran 2003 features: • C interoperability • Type-bound procedures • Input/output features (various) • Stream input/output • Abstract derived types • Individual component accessibility • Abstract interfaces and the PROCEDURE statement • Public entities of private type • The ISO_FORTRAN_ENV module • The IMPORT statement • INTENT for pointers • Square brackets for array constructors • The SOURCE= specifier on ALLOCATE • Error message retrieval (ERRMSG= and IOMSG=) • Access to the command line and environment variables • Character kind selection