FORTRAN

[ fawr-tran ]

noun

, Computers.

1. a high-level programming language used mainly for solving problems in science and engineering.

FORTRAN

/ ˈfɔːtræn /

noun

1. a high-level computer programming language for mathematical and scientific purposes, designed to facilitate and speed up the solving of complex problems

Word History and Origins

Origin of FORTRAN¹

1955–60; for(mula) tran(slation)

Word History and Origins

Origin of FORTRAN¹

C20: from for ( mula ) tran ( slation )

Example Sentences

Armed with the “blindingly fast” power of an IBM 704, the only computer in its day capable of handling complex mathematics and modeling “if/then” simulations using a new tool called Fortran, Simulmatics pitched Democratic Party officials on a study of Black voters, a demographic typically excluded by pollsters.

From Washington Post

Instead, the company continued sorting “punch cards, dividing the electorate, voter by voter, issue by issue,” relying on old election returns and the “brittle logic of FORTRAN,” whose manual warned that it was designed to understand only “numerical meaning” and “may fail entirely” to express other types of problems.

From Washington Post

In 1996, Sabino Maggi, now a computational physicist at the Italian National Research Council’s Institute of Atmospheric Pollution Research in Bari, used the computer language Fortran to model a superconducting device called a Josephson junction, processing the results with Microsoft Visual Basic.

From Nature

Fortran has changed little in the intervening years, so after a few tweaks Maggi’s code compiled without issue.

From Nature

In a 2002 New York Times profile, Allen said there was much initial skepticism of Fortran and how effective it could be in making computer programming easier and more efficient, which was a main focus of her career.

From The Verge