The seven ages of Fortran

When IBM's John Backus first developed the Fortran programming language, back in 1957, he certainly never dreamt that it would become a world-wide success and still be going strong many years later. Given the oft-repeated predictions of its imminent demise, starting around 1968, it is a surprise, even to some of its most devoted users, that this much-maligned language is not only still with us, but is being further developed for the demanding applications of the future. What has made this programming language succeed where most slip into oblivion? One reason is certainly that the language has been regularly standardized. In this paper we will trace the evolution of the language from its first version and though six cycles of formal revision, and speculate on how this might continue. Now, modern Fortran is a procedural, imperative, compiled language with a syntax well suited to a direct representation of mathematical formulas. Individual procedures may be compiled separately or grouped into modules, either way allowing the convenient construction of very large programs and procedure libraries. Procedures communicate via global data areas or by argument association. The language now contains features for array processing, abstract data types, dynamic data structures, objectoriented programming and parallel processing.Facultad de Informátic

The seven ages of Fortran

When IBM's John Backus first developed the Fortran programming language, back in 1957, he certainly never dreamt that it would become a world-wide success and still be going strong many years later. Given the oft-repeated predictions of its imminent demise, starting around 1968, it is a surprise, even to some of its most devoted users, that this much-maligned language is not only still with us, but is being further developed for the demanding applications of the future. What has made this programming language succeed where most slip into oblivion? One reason is certainly that the language has been regularly standardized. In this paper we will trace the evolution of the language from its first version and though six cycles of formal revision, and speculate on how this might continue. Now, modern Fortran is a procedural, imperative, compiled language with a syntax well suited to a direct representation of mathematical formulas. Individual procedures may be compiled separately or grouped into modules, either way allowing the convenient construction of very large programs and procedure libraries. Procedures communicate via global data areas or by argument association. The language now contains features for array processing, abstract data types, dynamic data structures, objectoriented programming and parallel processing.Facultad de Informátic

Space Generic Open Avionics Architecture (SGOAA) reference model technical guide

This report presents a full description of the Space Generic Open Avionics Architecture (SGOAA). The SGOAA consists of a generic system architecture for the entities in spacecraft avionics, a generic processing architecture, and a six class model of interfaces in a hardware/software system. The purpose of the SGOAA is to provide an umbrella set of requirements for applying the generic architecture interface model to the design of specific avionics hardware/software systems. The SGOAA defines a generic set of system interface points to facilitate identification of critical interfaces and establishes the requirements for applying appropriate low level detailed implementation standards to those interface points. The generic core avionics system and processing architecture models provided herein are robustly tailorable to specific system applications and provide a platform upon which the interface model is to be applied

Use of Technology and Big Data in E-Health Services

[Abstract]: The objective of this work has been to analyze the factors that determine the acceptance and use of technology (TAM) in the field of health services as well as the design of an app focused on the prevention of cardiovascular diseases. The factors that determine the use of electronic devices in the health field are the utility or perceived value, the ease of use (simple and attractive interface), the interactivity of the user with the device, the attitude towards technology and the reduction of the perceived risk (protection of privacy and health risk). From these determining factors, an app named Heart Focus App has been developed. This app would also make it possible to collect massive data from users or from databases from different official sources (FAO, INE, Ministry of Health) with the aim of predicting risk factors and providing information on healthier lifestyle habits. A data analysis based on statistical analysis techniques such as correlation analysis has identified a strong association between the elderly population and deaths from cardiovascular disease. Therefore, in view of the inevitable aging of the population, the development and use of electronic devices or apps with simple and easy-to-use interfaces, and the exploitation of big data derived from these can allow not only to improve the quality of life of patients, but also to reduce health costs and improve the quality of online and offline service.[Resumen]: El objetivo de este trabajo ha sido analizar los factores que determinan la aceptación y uso de la tecnología (TAM) en el ámbito de los servicios sanitarios así como el diseño de una app focalizada en la prevención de enfermedades cardiovasculares. Los factores que determinan el uso de dispositivos electrónicos en el ámbito sanitario son la utilidad o valor percibido, la facilidad de uso (interfaz sencilla y atractiva), la interactividad del usuario con el dispositivo, la actitud hacia la tecnología y la reducción del riesgo percibido (protección de la privacidad y los riesgos para la salud). A partir de estos factores determinantes, se ha desarrollado una app denominada Heart Focus App. Esta app también permitiría recoger datos masivos procedentes de los usuarios o de bancos de datos de diferentes fuentes oficiales (FAO, INE, Ministerio de Sanidad) con el objetivo de predecir factores de riesgo y proporcionar información sobre hábitos de vida más saludables. Un análisis de datos basado en técnicas de análisis estadístico como el análisis de correlación ha identificado una fuerte asociación entre la población de edad avanzada y las muertes por enfermedades cardiovasculares. Por ello, ante el inevitable envejecimiento de la población, el desarrollo y uso de dispositivos electrónicos o apps con interfaces sencillas y fáciles de usar, y la explotación de datos masivos derivados de estas puede permitir no solo mejorar la calidad de vida de los pacientes, sino también disminuir los costes sanitarios y mejorar la calidad del servicio online y offline.Traballo fin de grao (UDC.ECO). ADE. Curso 2019/202

Parsing Fortran-77 with proprietary extensions

Far from the latest innovations in software development, many organizations still rely on old code written in "obsolete" programming languages. Because this source code is old and proven it often contributes significantly to the continuing success of these organizations. Yet to keep the applications relevant and running in an evolving environment, they sometimes need to be updated or migrated to new languages or new platforms. One difficulty of working with these "veteran languages" is being able to parse the source code to build a representation of it. Parsing can also allow modern software development tools and IDEs to offer better support to these veteran languages. We initiated a project between our group and the Framatome company to help migrate old Fortran-77 with proprietary extensions (called Esope) into more modern Fortran. In this paper, we explain how we parsed the Esope language with a combination of island grammar and regular parser to build an abstract syntax tree of the code.Comment: Accepted at ICSME'23 Industrial trac

Life of occam-Pi

This paper considers some questions prompted by a brief review of the history of computing. Why is programming so hard? Why is concurrency considered an “advanced” subject? What’s the matter with Objects? Where did all the Maths go? In searching for answers, the paper looks at some concerns over fundamental ideas within object orientation (as represented by modern programming languages), before focussing on the concurrency model of communicating processes and its particular expression in the occam family of languages. In that focus, it looks at the history of occam, its underlying philosophy (Ockham’s Razor), its semantic foundation on Hoare’s CSP, its principles of process oriented design and its development over almost three decades into occam-? (which blends in the concurrency dynamics of Milner’s ?-calculus). Also presented will be an urgent need for rationalisation – occam-? is an experiment that has demonstrated significant results, but now needs time to be spent on careful review and implementing the conclusions of that review. Finally, the future is considered. In particular, is there a future

15th Annual Undergraduate Student Symposium

The Undergraduate Student Symposium, sponsored by the Farquhar Honors College, presents student projects through presentations, papers, films, and poster displays. The event serves as a “showcase” demonstrating the outstanding scholarship of undergraduate students at NSU. The symposium is open to undergraduate students from all disciplines. Projects cover areas of student scholarship ranging from the experimental and the applied to the computational, theoretical, artistic, and literary. They are taken from class assignments and independent projects. Project presentations can represent any stage in a concept’s evolution, from proposal and literature review to fully completed and realized scholarly work. As in past symposia, the definition of scholarship will be sufficiently broad to include work presented in the biological and physical sciences, the social and behavioral sciences, computer science and engineering, mathematics, arts and humanities, nursing and health care, education, and business. This is the fifteenth annual Undergraduate Student Symposium