11/15/79  New FORTRAN

The new_fortran command provides Multics FORTRAN users with a new
compiler.  The new compiler is about five times faster than the old
compiler.  It handles source segments that are in a more standard form
than the old one and is closer to the ANSI standard than the old one.
With this installation, the new compiler becomes the standard Multics
FORTRAN compiler and is available as fortran, ft, and new_fortran.  The
old compiler is available as old_fortran.  At this point, old_fortran is
considered obsolete although it will not be deleted from the system.
There are currently no bug fixes or enhancements planned for the old
compiler.


Documentation:
An addendum to the Multics FORTRAN manual is being prepared and will be
available shortly.  In the interim, online info segments will be
provided to assist users in using the new_fortran compiler.  Users who
find the info segments incomplete or inaccurate should report such
findings as trouble reports.  The info segments provided are:

  new_fortran.info
  new_fortran_conversions.gi.info
  new_fortran_differences.gi.info
  new_fortran_extensions.gi.info
  new_fortran_bugs.info


new_fortran_differences.gi.info:
A list of differences and incompatibilities between the old FORTRAN
compiler and the new one.  Some will prevent old FORTRAN object segments
from executing in harmony with new FORTRAN object segments.  Others are
differences in semantic interpretation.  These incompatibilities arise
mainly from the old FORTRAN compiler's divergence from ANSI in favor of
Multics PL/I.


new_fortran_extensions.gi.info:
A list of extensions relative to the old FORTRAN compiler, as well as
list of those extensions planned for the future.


new_fortran_conversions.gi.info:
A list of syntactic differences between the input formats of the two
compilers.  Both compilers support an identical card-image format,
however, the free-form format accepted by each compiler is very
different.


new_fortran_bugs.info
A list of bugs, planned language features, and suggested improvements
for the new FORTRAN compiler.


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Historical Background

This edition of the Multics software materials and documentation is provided and donated
to Massachusetts Institute of Technology by Group BULL including BULL HN Information Systems Inc. 
as a contribution to computer science knowledge.  
This donation is made also to give evidence of the common contributions of Massachusetts Institute of Technology,
Bell Laboratories, General Electric, Honeywell Information Systems Inc., Honeywell BULL Inc., Groupe BULL
and BULL HN Information Systems Inc. to the development of this operating system. 
Multics development was initiated by Massachusetts Institute of Technology Project MAC (1963-1970),
renamed the MIT Laboratory for Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence in the mid 1970s, under the leadership
of Professor Fernando Jose Corbato. Users consider that Multics provided the best software architecture 
for managing computer hardware properly and for executing programs. Many subsequent operating systems 
incorporated Multics principles.
Multics was distributed in 1975 to 2000 by Group Bull in Europe , and in the U.S. by Bull HN Information Systems Inc., 
as successor in interest by change in name only to Honeywell Bull Inc. and Honeywell Information Systems Inc. .

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Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute these programs and their documentation for any purpose and without
fee is hereby granted,provided that the below copyright notice and historical background appear in all copies
and that both the copyright notice and historical background and this permission notice appear in supporting
documentation, and that the names of MIT, HIS, BULL or BULL HN not be used in advertising or publicity pertaining
to distribution of the programs without specific prior written permission.
    Copyright 1972 by Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Honeywell Information Systems Inc.
    Copyright 2006 by BULL HN Information Systems Inc.
    Copyright 2006 by Bull SAS
    All Rights Reserved