CODEWITHSUNDEEP
ccompilationfortran
cyuut
cyuut

Reputation: 23

There is no such thing as a Fortran compiler?

One of my professors told me last night that "there is no such thing as a Fortran compiler" and that when one compiles Fortran what actually happens is that it is converted to C and then it is compiled in C.

This seems a little off to me as Fortran was invented in 1957 and C in 1972. Does he mean modern Fortran compilers used today such as GNU and Intel?

Upvotes: 1

Views: 339

Answers (1)

Ian Bush
Ian Bush

Reputation: 7434

There are plenty of Fortran compilers that don't use C as an intermediate representation. Some examples are the compilers from Intel and Portland Group, and the gnu compiler gfortran. The NAG Fortran compiler converts to C and then compiles that (I'm pretty sure this is still true), and early on before the first "true" gnu Fortran compiler you had to use f2c (long, long deprecated), but these are the only such case I've come across in almost 3 decades of using Fortran.

Upvotes: 6

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