language (Formula Translation) The first and, for a long
time, the most widely used programming language for numerical
and scientific applications. The original versions lacked
line-oriented
syntax in which certain columns had special
significance.
There have been a great many versions.
The name is often written "FORTRAN", harking back to the days
before computers were taught about lower case, but
ANSIdecreed, in about 1985 via the ANSI
FORTRAN Technical
Committee
TC, that it should be "Fortran".
(2000-07-07)