Is Fortran faster than C ?

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For some types of numerical computation, I think naive Fortran code should be much faster than C code. The compiler in Fortron can optimize the program much better than the C compiler can (for example, automatic parallelization for whole-array operations, not worrying about pointer aliasing, etc.).
And there are the best implementations of each of the languages provided to the programmer with having the control over the trading off speed vs. the memory size in the resulting generated code.

From time to time, I have read that the Fortran language can be very much faster than the C language for these heavy calculations. Is that true? I must admit that I barely know Fortran, but the Fortran code I have seen so far has not shown that the language has features that C does not.

Both languages are still evolving a significant role, and the given version of a compiler implementation be or be not be picked up for new features from time to time. The use of some of these features can affect both the performance of compilation and the performance of the resulting generated code.

Fortran has a special place in numerical programming. You can certainly create good and fast software in other languages, but Fortran continues to perform very well, despite its age. In addition, it is easier to create fast programs in Fortran.

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I created quick C ++ programs, but you need to be more careful with things like pointer aliases. So, there has to be a reason for that, and a very technical one. Is it because the compiler can optimize more? I would really like to know technical details, so if I use another language, I can take these things into account.

For example, I know – or think – that one thing is that the pattern specifies that pointers are always contiguous in memory, which means faster access to memory. I believe you can do this in C ++ by giving the compiler a flag. That way, it helps to know what Fortran does well so that, if you are using another language, we can emulate that.

Is Fortran faster than C
Is Fortran faster than C

Is anything faster than C?

There is no strict reason why a bytecode-based language like C # or Java that has a JIT can not be as fast as C ++ code. However, C ++ code used to be significantly faster for a long time, and today it still is in many cases. This is mainly because the more advanced JIT optimizations are tricky to implement, and cool ones are only coming right now.

So C ++ is faster, in many cases. But this is only part of the answer. The cases where C ++ is actually faster are highly optimized programs, where expert programmers thoroughly optimize the code. This is not only time-consuming (and therefore expensive), it also leads to errors due to over-optimization.

On the other hand, code is interpreted languages ​​is sped up in later versions of the runtime (.NET CLR or Java VM), without you doing anything. And there are many useful optimizations that JIT compilers can do that are simply impossible in languages ​​with pointers. In general, you can implement and achieve all of this in C ++ or C, but it will be much more complicated and error-prone.

As Donald Knuth said, premature optimization is the root of all evil.

If you really know for sure that your application will consist mainly of very performance-critical arithmetic. 

In any other case, focus first on deploying your application correctly in the language that suits you best, finding performance bottlenecks if it runs too slow, and then thinking about optimizing your code. At worst, you may need to call C code through an external function interface, so you can still write critical parts in a lower-level language.

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As far as I know, the C language is fast because it lacks many checking features that other languages ​​have. It also does not have a garbage collector; it has a lot of permissiveness in types, etc.

Actually, C is one step above Assembler. That is good and bad. Good because you can do whatever you want if you have enough skill. Bad, because you can do whatever you want, and if you do not have enough talent, you will crash with the whole team.

Which is better Fortran or C++?

Fortran excels at processing the array. If your problem can be described in terms of simple data structures and, in particular, matrices, Fortran is well suited. Fortran programmers end up using arrays even in non-obvious cases (for example, for graphing). C ++ is best suited for complex and highly dynamic data structures.

Skills dependency: it takes a lot more programming experience to write good C ++ programs than it does to write good Fortran programs. If you start with little programming experience and have a lot of time to learn that aspect of your job, you are likely to get a better return on investment by learning Fortran than by learning C ++. Assuming, of course, that your problem is suitable for Fortran.

However, there is more to programming than just Fortran and C++. I recommend anyone who enters computer science to start with a high-level dynamic language, like Python. Always remember that your time is more valuable than your CPU time!

Fortran (which comes from Formula Translation, or Formula Translation) is a language for scientific calculation, and C++ is a general programming language. There are many differences apart from this, but since you asked for the main difference, here is the orientation of the design.

Fortran is considered the first high-level language, and its developers wanted it to be. The objective was to allow the use of efficient mathematical operations but “out-of-the-box” (without having to reprogram or configure) and thus facilitate the use and understanding of the programs. The developers of C++ wanted a multidisciplinary language, efficient but easy to process and optimize by the compiler.

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This can be seen in the syntax differences between the two languages. Fortran is more natural for humans to use more words. It is also seen in the abstraction of pointers in Fortran since they are only used when it is really necessary when in C++; it is an obligation to know how to use them.

How long does it take to learn Fortran?

 If you want to be a master in programming, then the first key is to get started with any language. Language does not matter at all, but the thing which is really mattering is that how much time you are spending on that programming language which you are learning.

Here are some of the most important tips which will help you to follow them after choosing your language.

Get started. Do not feel bad that you are not an expert programmer yet. You can take as long as you want or move as fast as you can. If you’ve decided to become the best and great programmer, you’ve already cleared the hardest part of it: planting the seed. Now you just have to give time, and your skills will become best.

Don’t worry. Do not be intimated by how much you don’t understand. Computers are still largely magic even to me. It will take me a long time to figure out that it has something to do with it. But if you stick with it and can not go on, sometimes almost everything will not work. So don’t waste your golden time or get stressed or worrying about that what you don’t know. It will come, trust me. Remember, every great and best programmer at one time had NO IDEA what he is assembly was, or compiler, or pointer, or class, or closure, or transistor, etc. Many of them still don’t!

Treat yourself. Build things you think are cool. Build stuff you want to use. It’s more fun to work hard on something you are doing, and you are interested in it. Programming is like cooking something; you don’t know what you are doing, what you are doing is good or not until you taste it.

Write English. Code is likely as English than like mathematics. In Great code is easy to read. In great code functions, files, classes, and variables are also named very well. Comments, when needed, are concise and helpful.

Is Fortran faster than Python?

Which is better: FORTRAN or Python? And I guess in both cases; you need Gnuplot, am I right?

I am working on a windows machine at the moment.

I would like to use it to obtain numerical solutions for physics problems, including Monte-Carlo simulations, numerical integration and differentiation, molecular dynamics, etc.

I saw a course on computational physics that introduces both FORTRAN (77, I think) and Python. I am planning to start with one and then learn the other, but I don’t know which transition could be the easiest.

What compilers would you recommend too?

The basic questions for me come down to, which is the easiest to learn, which is the fastest, which is the easiest to use, and most of all, which is the most used (so a comparison of these 4)? 

And besides that, what are the most common compilers (free or paid) in use? I am currently considering converting an old laptop (older Intel dual-core) to Linux; Hopefully, it’s fast enough.

I know the basics of C ++, Maple, and I am fluent in MATLAB and Mathematica9 almost completely if that is of any help.

Fortran vs. r

The R programing language is an open-source and scripting language for predictive analytics and data visualization of it.

The initial version of R was released in 1995 to permit academic statisticians et al. with sophisticated programming skills to perform complex data statistical analysis and display the ends up in any of a mess of visual graphics.

The “R” name comes from the primary letter of the names of the two developers of it, which are Ross Ihaka and the Robert Gentleman, who were connected with the University of Auckland at the time.

The R artificial language includes functions that support linear modeling, non-linear modeling, classical statistics, classifications, clustering, and more. It’s remained popular in academic settings because of its robust features and also the incontrovertible fact that it absolves to download in ASCII text file form under the terms of the Free Software Foundation’s GNU general public license.

The appeal of the R language has gradually unfolded of academia into business settings, as many data analysts who trained on R in college like better to continue using it instead of acquiring a brand new tool with which they’re inexperienced.

An advantage of the Fortran language is built-in array slicing syntax; these are combined with the lays out memory and also the default use of non-aliasing.

 In C and C++, a two-dimensional array is, by default, an array that contains tips to other arrays. In other words, arrays in C/C++ don’t seem to be vectorized, whereas, in Fortran, they are. Even higher dimensional arrays are vectorized in Fortran. It’s somewhat more performant to access elements in vectorized arrays than arrays that contain tips to other arrays.

Second, while anyone can store multidimensional arrays as a vector in almost any language, accessing that data in a very easy efficient manner becomes extremely difficult as dimensions increase. Fortran makes it easy because it handles and hides all the array slicing operations.

C++ attempted to repeat Fortran’s model by introducing the valarray way back within the day, but this never took off as I heard the initial designer ditched the C++ committee leaving the valarray like an unwanted child.

I’ve got used valarray plenty, and it’s pretty powerful for array slicing at higher dimensions; however, I feel it lacks modern-day optimizations found in Fortran compilers, which brings me to my next point.

Fortran vs. Java

Communicating with our computer or with our smartphone is nowadays as easy as pressing icons, opening menus, choosing an option from a list of actions.

We can communicate with any device using mice, keyboards, touch screens, or even with our voices. But in the early days of computing, talking to a computer consisted of inserting a punch card that represented orders in binary code. It was the only way to make us understand with the first computers.

Thus, programming is the way of communicating with an electronic device or, furthermore, creating the necessary tools so that anyone can interact with that device. And as the Museum of Computing History itself highlights, it was with Fortran that modern programming as we know it began. 

The role of Assembler should not be demeaned, the first code language that opened the doors to generic languages ​​that would come later, but it was with Fortran that the trail of languages ​​that we have seen during these decades until today began. This is his story.

Java is a compiled language: it goes through a JVM (Java Virtual Machine) to be interpreted and translated into the language of the “machine.”

What also sets them apart is the fact that JavaScript is a loosely-typed scripting language, while Java is a strongly-typed language. Typing refers to writing variables, that is, the type of data to be stored (character, numeric, Boolean *, etc.)

Java is a back-end language intended for standalone applications (desktop and Android). It is considered to be the native language of Android applications and has a much wider range of options and features to choose from other languages ​​when it comes to this type of implementation. 

It is recommended for developing robust applications. However, the downside is that it consumes a lot in terms of resources. Unlike JavaScript, very few libraries revolve around it. Java is said to be a “verbose” language, so at first glance, it may seem a bit easier to use.

Go vs. Fortran

Go, or Golang, is an open-source programming language that Google started to develop in 2007. It is mostly used for system programming. It was released in November 2009. 

Go compiler “GC” as open-source software; Windows, Linux, OS X, BSD, and Unix versions have been developed. Since 2015, it has been developed for smartphones.

Go was created by Google engineers as an experiment. It is designed to solve known criticisms of other languages. It has also been developed to preserve its positive properties. 

Go programming language; It had the characteristics of being productive and readable, supporting network and multiple operations, being statically written and scalable to large systems. 

Golang is a programming language that took its first step in 2007, was voiced in 2009, and reached Go 1.0 in mid-2012. It is a very young, open-source programming language powered by Google, which is simple and outstanding for its performance.

Go Programming Language Examples

Go is an open-source language. Thanks to this feature, we can examine the Go source code line by line. The team responsible for developing this program within Google contributed to this language themselves. In addition, taking into account the opinions and suggestions of technology giants using this technology, it is tried to develop additional skills. At the same time, the opinions of ordinary developers are followed through the communities.

This day marks the birthday of John Warner Backus, who is considered the creator of the FORTRAN programming language, this offers a great opportunity to learn about and reflect on the history of this technology, which is the first high-level language invented. For IBM in 1954 and commercially launched in 1957.

The history of this language dates back to 1957 as a programming tool for the IBM 704. Only a year later, IBM released a revised version of it, called FORTRAN II. 

It provided support for procedural programming by introducing declarations that allowed programmers to create subroutines and functions, thus encouraging code reuse.

Fortran is now over forty years old and still the leading language in scientific and industrial programming; of course, it has been constantly updated.

The invention of Fortran started a $ 24 million dollar computer software industry and began the development of other high-level programming languages.

Why do physicists use Fortran?

I only have regular contact with astrophysicists, so it is not very representative, but:

  • Many of them are still programming in FORTRAN, but we are talking about people of a certain age or legacy, semi-standard programs that people learned to use during their Ph.D.
  • For the same reason, many use IDL (product based on the license, very expensive, by the way)
  • In the last couple of decades, it has become increasingly fashionable to use Python, a language that has been endowed with a set of packages for numerical, statistical, and scientific use in general (in different fields), quite impressive.

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Then there are other things, such as very specific languages ​​associated with data reduction environments (such as IRAF or MIDAS, for example), which are also often used because until not too long ago, they were the only “standard” tools and that, again, you used according to what you would have gotten used to during your education (and since programming is not their business, they tend to be quite conservative).

Physicists mostly use the Fortran programming language. The reason is that millions of lines have been written in Fortran for all kinds of scientific, physical, and mathematical calculations. It is logical to think that physicists are going to want to use the same programming language that they have been using in all these years mainly to ensure maximum compatibility with the work that has been done in all these times, only having to make a minimum change in the code source to ensure that a program written in a very early version of Fortran can be successfully compiled into one of the more recent versions of Fortran.

I first heard of Fortran from my father in early childhood. He said that in order to start the primitive code using the punch card, he had to raise his only computer in college for almost no computer, one rank for one rank. I honestly admit, since then until recently (despite the technical training obtained), I was confident that Fortran was staying somewhere there, in the world, Punchy Strange Cards Talking Cards Speakers and Computers are a real shot that they are so expensive.

What was my surprise when I found out that Ford is not only used in one place but is in demand and is still relevant? If you also believe earlier that Fortran maintained the status of a dead man, then here are some interesting facts why he’s still gone.

Conclusion

Hence, it is concluded that there are a lot of programming languages, but among them, very few

are acceptable by the programmers to pursue their careers in the world of coding. Programming

languages are principally used to get control over the performance of a machine or computer.

Presently, the programmers have several options to select the programming language, the

capability and application of each language are quite different from others, so it is very

significant to understand the functions of each language before selecting it for your career.

And when it comes to easiness, it takes a lot more programming experience to write good C ++

programs than it does to write good Fortran programs. If you start with little programming

experience and have a lot of time to learn that aspect of your job, you are likely to get a better

return on investment by learning Fortran than by learning C ++. However, there is more to

programming than just Fortran and C++. I recommend anyone who enters computer science to

start with a high-level dynamic language, like Python. Always remember that your time is more

valuable than your CPU time! Physicists mostly use the Fortran programming language. The

reason is that millions of lines have been written in Fortran for all kinds of scientific, physical,

and mathematical calculations.

So, It is logical to think that physicists are going to want to use the same programming language

that they have been using in all these years mainly to ensure maximum compatibility with the

work that has been done in all these times only having to make a minimum change in the code

source to ensure that a program written in a very early version of Fortran can be successfully

compiled into one of the more recent versions of Fortran.

Luis Gillman
Luis Gillman

Hi, I Am Luis Gillman CA (SA), ACMA
I am a Chartered Accountant (SA) and CIMA (SA) and author of Due Diligence: A strategic and Financial Approach.

The book was published by Lexis Nexis on 2001. In 2010, I wrote the second edition. Much of this website is derived from these two books.

In addition I have published an article entitled the Link Between Due Diligence and Valautions.

Disclaimer: Whilst every effort has been made to ensure that the information published on this website is accurate, the author and owners of this website take no responsibility  for any loss or damage suffered as a result of relience upon the information contained therein.  Furthermore the bulk of the information is derived from information in 2018 and use therefore is at your on risk. In addition you should consult professional advice if required.