From owner-freebsd-hackers Wed Dec 16 14:28:24 1998 Return-Path: Received: (from majordom@localhost) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.8/8.8.8) id OAA22143 for freebsd-hackers-outgoing; Wed, 16 Dec 1998 14:28:24 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from owner-freebsd-hackers@FreeBSD.ORG) Received: from gershwin.tera.com ([207.224.230.28]) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.8/8.8.8) with ESMTP id OAA22133 for ; Wed, 16 Dec 1998 14:28:20 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from kline@tao.thought.org) Received: from tao.thought.org (tao.tera.com [207.108.223.55]) by gershwin.tera.com (8.8.8/8.8.8) with ESMTP id OAA27634; Wed, 16 Dec 1998 14:28:08 -0800 (PST) Received: (from kline@localhost) by tao.thought.org (8.8.8/8.7.3) id OAA08758; Wed, 16 Dec 1998 14:27:55 -0800 (PST) From: Gary Kline Message-Id: <199812162227.OAA08758@tao.thought.org> Subject: Re: Fortran in the base system In-Reply-To: <199812162113.OAA24973@mt.sri.com> from Nate Williams at "Dec 16, 98 02:13:54 pm" To: nate@mt.sri.com (Nate Williams) Date: Wed, 16 Dec 1998 14:27:54 -0800 (PST) Cc: bdodson@beowulf.utmb.edu, sgk@troutmask.apl.washington.edu, nate@mt.sri.com, hackers@FreeBSD.ORG Organization: <> thought.org: public access uNix in service... <> X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.4ME+ PL32 (25)] MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sender: owner-freebsd-hackers@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk X-Loop: FreeBSD.ORG According to Nate Williams: > [ Removing f77 from the release ] > > > > I'd argue (heck, I am arguing. :) that it should be removed. > > > > > > Surprisingly, I would actually support this. > > > > > > > Me too. It takes away a lot of the potential for confusion for > > the casual user, thereby alerting them that they need to do > > something extra (like install a port or package or ask someone > > with experience with FBSD how to proceed). And we don't get the > > rap of poor performance in this problem domain. > > We're getting alot of positive response from people who want it > removed. Aside from Alfred, are they any other dissenters? > > I've always thought of a computer system _without_ FORTRAN as serious lacking. Not because my first course was in F77; after all, this was a few (um, 20) summers ago. But because FORTRAN is still fairly widely used in the non-hacker disciplines. If we do yank it--with or without extreme prejudice--then when some non-geek user does an % appropos fortran, he should see something like fortran: you gotta port it if you wanna use it. Nutshell: I'm almost neutral, but not entirely. gary > -- Gary D. Kline kline@tao.thought.org Public service uNix To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-hackers" in the body of the message