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[jjgermis]

While working through some papers on profile reduction I came across a paper dated 1979 where the FTN compiler was used.

In the first paragraph of section Results and Discussion (p. 848) this is mentioned. The paper is also on-line available: 1979 paper by Everstine

[LitusSaxonicum]

I used a CDC6400 (when it was new) at Imperial College, London in the early 1970s and also in the late 1970s . Most of what I did made use of the MNF (Minnesota) Fortran compiler, which was Fortran 66). However I do remember reading the sparse documentation on a compiler named FTN. This had plotter graphics that made use of the Hershey character vectors - we could get output on Calcomp and Kingmatic plotters. I have long been convinced that FTN was an early precursor to today's FTN compiler, not least by the use of Hershey characters which were an important feature of FTN77/DBOS. (A CDC version doesn't appear in the history). I can't remember well, but the FTN I was shown might even have been a new-fangled Fortran 77. Anyway, I remember sticking to MNF for familiarity reasons, and not using Fortran 77 until I used a VAX.

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[Robert]

Salford University's FTN77 wasn't available on the CDC6400 - it was available on the ICL 1900 series: http://www.silverfrost.com/53/ftn77_personal_edition.aspx

The DBOS run-time came with Hershey characters -- I suppose from a similar source than the one you remember on the CDC6400.

[LitusSaxonicum]

Yes, there are plenty of references on the web to CDC Fortran Extended, and FTN is probably the best 3 letter contraction of Fortran.

'Twas the Hershey characters that convinced me.

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[mecej4]