.....ND "January 1, 1977"
.....TM 76-1273-10 39199 39199-11
RATFOR \(em A Preprocessor for a Rational Fortran
structured programming, control flow, programming
Although Fortran is not a pleasant
it does have the advantages of universality
and (usually) relative efficiency.
language attempts to conceal
the main deficiencies of Fortran
while retaining its desirable qualities,
decent control flow statements:
for controlling loop exits
and some ``syntactic sugar'':
free form input (multiple statements/line, automatic continuation)
unobtrusive comment convention
translation of >, >=, etc., into .GT., .GE., etc.
statement for symbolic parameters
statement for including source files
preprocessor which translates this language
Once the control flow and cosmetic deficiencies of Fortran
the resulting language is remarkably pleasant to use.
markedly easier to write, and to read,
and thus easier to debug, maintain and modify
than their Fortran equivalents.
It is readily possible to write
programs which are portable to other env ironments.
are now running on at least two dozen different types of computers
at over five hundred locations.
This paper discusses design criteria
for a Fortran preprocessor,
This paper is a revised and expanded version of oe published in
Software\(emPractice and Experience,
The Ratfor described here is the one in use on
at Bell Laboratories, Murray Hill, N. J.