Re: fortran compilier recommendations

[Michael Procario <procario@hepc06.phys.cmu.edu>]

I have used the Absoft compiler because it supported Vax style fortran 
structures which we needed for some code we were porting.  It is OK as
a compiler. I needed it to work with g77 since we used several libraries built 
with g77 which proved to be very difficult to compile with ABSOFT due to
many workarounds to get them to work with g77. 

I succeeded with significant work in linking and correctly running a program 
that used Absoft f77, g77, gcc and g++.  I consider that to be to ABSOFT's 
credit.  I did find one compiler bug involving character functions, and I
had trouble with debugging symbols not being properly included if the object 
file was sent to a different directory from the source file.

I have not investigated optimization significantly. It turns out the g++ piece 
is the slowpoke and that is not my responsibility.  If I could survive with
g77 I would do so.  ABSOFT is not that great advantage over g77 in my case 
except for the fortran structures.

Have tried the comp.lang.fortran newsgroup. They have significant discussions
of issues like this.

Mike


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Michael Procario                                       EMAIL: procario@cmu.edu
Department of Physics                                  PHONE: 412/268-3887
Carnegie Mellon University      

              "Another casualty of applied metaphysics"
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