Fortran is used a lot in the context of HPC. For many, it has a reputation of being an old and ugly programming language. However, modern Fortran is a far cry from Fortran 77 that its detractors have in mind. Fortran 2003/2008 is a language that is well tailored towards scientific computing. This training introduces the language and its features.

Learning outcomes

When you complete this training you will be able to

• read and understand well-written Fortran code;
• write intermediate-level Fortran programs;
• have a good starting point to familiarize yourself with the more sophisticated aspects of Fortran by practicing.
• know about best practices and pitfalls for Fortran programmers.

Schedule

Total duration: 7 hours, split over two sessions.

Session one

Total duration session 1: 3.5 hours

Subject	Duration
introduction and motivation	5 min.
basics: control flow statements, data types	85 min.
hands-on session 1	20 min.
coffee break	10 min.
arrays and pointers	30 min.
user defined types	10 min.
procedures	30 min.
hands-on session 2	20 min.

Session two

Total duration, session 2: 3.5 hours

Subject	Duration
modules and object oriented programming	70 min.
hands-on session 3	20 min.
coffee break	10 min.
file I/O	50 min.
interacting with the environment	10 min.
hands-on session 4	20 min.
discussion of more advanced topics (e.g., using BLAS/Lapack, HDF5)	20 min.
wrap up	10 min.

Training materials

Slides are available in the GitHub repository, as well as example code and hands-on material. The exercises for the hands-on sessions are on the website.

Target audience

This training is for you if you need to use Fortran as a programming language.

Prerequisites

You will need experience programming in another programming language, This is not a training that starts from scratch.

If you plan to do Fortran programming in a Linux or HPC environment you should be familiar with these as well.

Trainer(s)

• Geert Jan Bex (geertjan.bex@uhasselt.be)