Fortran 90/95 for Scientists and Engineers (Paperback)

by Stephen J. Chapman (Author), Stephen Chapman (Author) "The computer was probably the most important invention of the 20th century..." (more)
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Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Chapman's Fortran for Scientists and Engineers is intended for both first year engineering students and practicing engineers. It simultaneously teaches the Fortran 90/95 programming language, structured programming techniques, and good programming practice. Among its strengths are its concise, clear explanations of Fortran syntax and programming procedures, the inclusion of a wealth of examples and exercises to help students grasp difficult concepts, and its explanations about how to understand code written for older versions of Fortran.

Product Details

• Paperback: 832 pages
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill Science/Engineering/Math; 2 edition (July 31, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0072825758
• ISBN-13: 978-0072825756
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.3 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #545,957 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

39 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book for Part-Time Programmers, September 26, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Fortran 90/95 for Scientists and Engineers (Paperback)

Firstly, this book covers Fortran 90 and 95 in great detail, offering many helpful suggestions to those who are used to older versions of Fortran, such as Fortran 77, and highlighting the differences between the 90 and 95 versions. Where this book shines is in the hundreds of examples of and bits of advice on good programming practice spread throughout the book. It's specifically tailored to those "part-time" programmers, scientists and engineers who do not come from a computer science or software engineering background. Most current (and new) Fortran programmers would benefit greatly by learning the programming style found here. I can't agree with all the advice, however, such as abandoning the basic "real" and "double precision" data types in favor of the new "kind" parameterized types. Still, the philosophy behind such advice is sound, and good programmers will know when and when not to use specific language features. One subject unfortunately missing from the book is programming for parallel processors, and other techniques to speed programs up. But most Fortran programmers don't need to worry about this subject and those who do can get O'Reilly's "High Performance Computing" and Jon Bentley's "Writing Efficient Programs". The examples and quizzes within, and the exercises at the end of, each chapter make this a great textbook. The appendices and index make it useful as a reference book. If you program in Fortran 90 or 95, I'd say this book is a must-have.

28 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent text for modern programming, February 5, 2005

By	Itoro Etim (Japan) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

It is outrightly silly to rate this excellent book one star and insinuate that it is a terrible write-up. Is it the thin index that makes it so bad, or the explanation of do loops using sin(x) series expansion, according to the first reviewer? If you are a scientist or an engineer (the target audience of the book) you'll probably see the wisdom of such an example instead of counting from 1 to 10 as if we are inside a grocery store.

This is an excellent book not just for sake of learning the fortran language but also for writing modern and easily maintanable codes and algorithms. Whether you are a "pure" or "hybrid" programmer, you couldn't ever ask for something more.
I am sure the author will subsequently improve the indexing since most people seem to take an offence in that but the contents are just right.Of course Metcalf/Reid (Fortran 90/95 Explained) is also a very good text but is largely for reference purposes. Metcalf/Reid DOES NOT and will not teach you the nitty-gritty of fortran programming. In Metcalf/Reid, you must already have been there in programming, but Chapman will gradually take you to whatever level you deisre, depending on what you need. Very importantly, Chapman sprinkles throughout the text, several scientific and engineering examples and I guess it is why the text was so named in the first place - Fortran 90/95 for Scientists and Engineers.

It doesn't matter if you figure that you are way too cerebral and that Chapman is too simplistic for you. If you ever want to venture into programming, chances are that you are not an imbecile and any additional little knowledge gained is always an eternal treasure. This is an excellent text for programming in Fortran 90/95 and you'll be grateful that you did own a copy. Period.

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent presentation of the capabilities of Fortran, August 17, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Fortran 90/95 for Scientists and Engineers (Paperback)

This book is an excellent presentation of the capabilities of Fortran 90 and 95. It is detailed enough to cover in depth many programming issues arising in practise, and also summarizes and gives good programming hints, allowing it to be used for quick reference. It also includes many actual source code examples which is the best way to show how all the theory becomes practice. It also includes extensive apendices with descriptions of the intrinsic functions of Fortran. In my opinion one of the best Fortran books that you can find currently.