Fortran

The Fortran programming language originated over 50 years ago, and modern variants (e.g. Fortran 95/2003) are the languages of choice for many scientists, engineers and mathematicians for numerical computing.

Site-licensed Fortran Compilers at University of Sheffield

Members of the University of Sheffield have access to several commercial Fortran compilers all of which have particular strengths and weaknesses.

NAG Fortran Compiler (Windows, MacOS X and Linux)

According to the 2015 Fortran UK compiler comparisons, the NAG compiler was one of the best diagnostic compilers available.

The Windows and Mac versions of the NAG compiler have graphical user interfaces containing full documentation for the Fortran language. Combined with the fact that students can install it on their personal machines, this makes it an ideal compiler for teaching and learning Fortran. Unfortunately, the Linux version is command line only and so is not as easy to use.

Suitable for Teaching and Learning
Installed on the University’s ShARC High-Performance Computing (HPC) cluster.
Unlimited number of licenses for members of the University
Network access not required at compile time
Download (University staff and students only)
Vendor Website

Intel Fortran Compiler (Windows, MacOS X and Linux)

On average, programs generated using the Intel Fortran Compiler run faster than those produced by other Fortran compilers. At Sheffield, the small number of network licenses mean this compiler is suitable for research use only, i.e. not suitable for teaching use. Our license also allows use of Intel’s debugger and the Math Kernel Library (MKL) which includes optimised versions of the BLAS, LAPACK, FFTW etc.

Best for compute intensive research.
Small number of network licenses. Need to be connected to the network at compile time
Installed on the University’s Stanage and Bessemer HPC clusters.
Can be used as a mex compiler for MATLAB (Windows only)
Download (University staff and students only)
Vendor Website

PGI Fortran Compiler (Linux and Windows)

The PGI Compiler is a useful alternative to the Intel Compiler but its real strength lies when developing code for General Purpose Graphical Processing Units (GP-GPUs). We only have a small number of network licenses so this compiler is not suitable for teaching.

Best for GPU development
Small number of network licenses. Need to be connected to the network at compile time
Installed on the University’s Bessemer HPC cluster.
Vendor Website

Silverfrost Fortran Compiler (Windows only)

A windows based Fortran and C Compiler suite with excellent debugging facilities. Sheffield has a site license for teaching and research use.

Download (University staff and students only)

Free, Open Source Fortran Compilers

gfortran

Free to use compiler included in the Linux and Mac OSX operating systems (note: may not be installed by default). gfortran is part of the GNU Compiler Collective (GCC) that includes C/C++ compilers, Windows versions are also available via MinGW or as part of Cygwin. Although performance falls short of the Intel compiler, executable run times are reasonable.

To install in Windows see MinGW.

Numerical Fortran Libraries

The University of Sheffield has site licenses for the following Fortran numerical libraries:

NAG Fortran Library. Contains many user-callable routines covering a huge variety of mathematical and statistical areas.
- Obtain the NAG Fortran Library from IT Services’ software download site (University staff and students only).
- NAG Fortran Library documentation on the University’s ShARC HPC cluster.
- Complete list of functions provided by the NAG Fortran library.
Intel Math kernel Library (MKL). Contains extremely fast functions for linear algebra, fourier transforms, data fitting and statistics.
- The MKL is distributed as part of Intel Parallel Studio, which can be obtained from IT Services’ software download site (University staff and students only).

Additional Fortran Resources

A look at Fortran unit test frameworks by The Software Sustainability Institute