Customer Reviews

Fortran 95/2003 Explained (Numerical Mathematics and Scientific Computation)

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Fortran 95 and especially Fortran 2003 are more modern and larger languages than the Fortran 77 many programmers have used. Some of the features in Fortran 95 not in Fortran 77 are free source form, array operations (similar to Matlab), user-defined types, and modules. Some new features in Fortran 2003 are support for object oriented programming with (single) inheritance, procedure (function) pointers, IEEE arithmetic, interoperability with C, and command line arguments.

The first ten chapters of the book cover the Fortran 95 subset of Fortran 2003, and the following chapters cover the new features of Fortran 2003.

The three co-authors are Fortran experts and have served on the
Fortran standards committee. Their writing is clear and concise,
packing a great deal of information into 416 pages. Earlier editions have been the most referenced books by serious Fortran programmers.

The book plays a role for Fortran a similar to Stroustrup's "The C++ Programming Language" for C++. It is not a textbook for a novice programmer -- the reader should already know the basics of procedural programming. More pedagogical books on Fortran 90/95 for are those by Meissner, Chapman, and
Ellis/Phillips/Lahey. A good book for transitioning Fortran 77
programmers is one by Redwine.

As of January 2011, there are still no complete Fortran 2003 compilers, but the free g95 and gfortran compilers supports all of Fortran 95, and gfortran implements many of the features of Fortran 2003, including the object-oriented ones.

I have some 20 years experience in coding in Fortran 77, but finally needed to catch up with Fortran 95 and 2003. I have also bought "Fortran 90/95 for Scientists and Engineers" by Stephen Chapman and found that a much better book for beginners in Fortran 95. "Fortran 95/2003 Explained" reads, as other reviewers have noted, like a language reference. There is basically no build-up in this book and I also have the feeling that in earlier Chapters it is expected that you already know what comes in later Chapters. The examples in the book are rarely explanatory to me, they leave me often without a clear understanding of what purpose is served.

For those who want to learn Fortran 95 (even for those who are already fluent in Fortran 77) I would recommend to buy the book by Stephen Chapman instead. If you want a reference manual, "Fortran 95/2003 Explained" will likely serve you well.

The review by V. Rau descibes the book very well. I am not sure that I can add much. There is a wealth of information. However, it reads like a specification for program language yet to be written. The information is all there but be prepared to figure out for yourself how to use the specifications that they list. Fortran is the language of choice for number crunching problems. I was at a loss most of the time to try to figure out how the newer specifications that they list could apply to the number crunching.

This book is the best on the subject of Fortran 95/2003, but there's not a lot of competition. It has a specific target audience: practicing computer professionals. Don't pick it up if you are not already familiar with object-oriented programming, derived data types, pointers, etc. This is not the book from which to learn those concepts.

It's a pity that there does not exist a book to bridge the gap between Fortran 77 (which the majority of the Fortran code base uses) and Fortran 95/2003. If you are a Fortran 77 programmer looking to learn Fortran 95/2003, this probably isn't the book for you. If you are a proficient C++ or Java programmer looking to pick up Fortran (there can't be very many of you) then you will find this book very helpful.

Very difficult to read. Assumes no previous knowledge of Fortran, yet does not quite show the reader how to actually write a functional program until late in the book. Chapman's book(s) are much better.

Great book if you already know something about the language.
It has clear explation about many topics, good examples and it is a great reference if you need to remember something fast.
If you are a begginer, I would suggest you to start with a more basic book, like Ellis/ Philips/ Lahey.

Amongst all the new computer books these days, it is rare to find one on Fortran. This text will have much familiar to programmers of earlier versions. The authors go on about Fortran 95 and its 2003 sibling. Yet it is still recognisably much like F77.

The presentation is advanced. The level of difficulty of the syntax explanations is considerably above an elementary text. An important section advises on how to interoperate with C. Variables in one might map into variables in the other, using an ISO Binding scheme.

But perhaps the most important aspect of F2003 is that it allows object oriented coding. Using type extensions and polymorphism. However, after going through the text, it still seems not as easy as C++ or Java.

I had used the F90/95 edition for a while before I got this edition. Although it is not easy for a beginner, I would recommend you have it if you wanna go further with Fortran. Many questions you gonna meet are answered inside.

I am very satisfied with this book. The cost was excellent compared with new at the book stores.