Data parallel languages such as High-Performance Fortran (HPF) and Fortran D simplify the task of parallel programming by enabling users to express parallel algorithms at a high level. Compilers for these languages are responsible for realizing parallelism and inserting all interprocessor communication. For this reason, these compilers have detailed knowledge of the the relationship between its...

In 1965, four undergraduates at the University of Waterloo wrote Watfor, a fast student-oriented Fortran compiler for the school’s IBM 7040, largely because the available Fortran compiler was slow and offered weak diagnostic and debugging tools. This article describes the birth and evolution of the Watfor family and explores how it fits into the University of Waterloo’s unique-within-Canada coo...

Feature location is a major problem in supporting legacy code. Two methods, the Sojhare Reconnaissance technique and the Dependency Graph search method, have been proposed to help software engineers locate features in a program that needs to be modiped. Both methods have been developed and evaluated largely using relatively modern C code. This report describes preliminary experiences in adaptin...

Historically, the principal achievement of compiler technology has been to make it possible to program in a high-level, machine-independent style. The absence of compiler technology to provide such a style for parallel computers is the main reason these systems have not found widespread acceptance. This paper examines the prospects for machineindependent parallel programming, concentrating on F...

Data parallel languages such as High-Performance Fortran (HPF) and Fortran D simplify the task of parallel programming by enabling users to express parallel algorithms at a high level. Compilers for these languages are responsible for realizing parallelism and inserting all interprocessor communication. For this reason, these compilers have detailed knowledge of the the relationship between its...

Alias analysis for Fortran is less complicated than for programming languages with pointers but many real Fortran programs violate the standard: a formal parameter or a common variable that is aliased with another formal parameter is modified. Compilers, assuming standard-conforming programs, consider that an assignment to one variable will not change the value of any other variable, allowing o...

The open source RFortran library is introduced as a convenient tool for accessing the functionality and packages of the R programming language from Fortran programs. It significantly enhances Fortran programming by providing a set of easy-to-use functions that enable access to R's very rapidly growing statistical, numerical and visualization capabilities, and support a richer and more interacti...