Not,  trying to discourage anyone from messing with simh and one of the old
UNIX systems - looking at the past.  But to be honest at this stage of the
game there is nothing in EFL that I know of that modern Fortran can not
do.  And if you want to see how the world has progressed since F4, and you
have a Mac, Linux or Windows box -- the entire Intel compiler suite,
including their Fortran 2018 compatible system can be downloaded for free
--  Intel OneAPI HPC Toolkit Download
<https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/developer/tools/oneapi/hpc-toolkit-download.html.>
This is the compiler many (most) supercomputer codes use - why is a good
COFF discussion ;-)

For the youngsters that never saw it, is a piece of F4 code [the Intel
compiler can still gork it BTW], which we call the 'Eklund Test' as Dave
Eklund was Mr. Fixed format for both DEC and Intel starting in the early
1970s until he retired 5 years ago [note Dave did not write this - came
from Europe but is now part of the Intel compiler test suite].

C    This FORTRAN program may be compiled and run on a Norsk Data
C    computer running SINTRAN and the FTN compiler.  It uses only
C    FORTRAN reserved words, and contains just one numerical
C    constant, in a character string (a format specifier).  When
C    you run it, it prints a well known mathematical construct...
C
C    Even FORTRAN is a block structured programming language:
C
      PROGRAM
     ;PROGRAM;INTEGERIF,INTEGER,GOTO,IMPLICIT;REALREAL,DIMENSION,EXTERNA
     AL,FORMAT,END;INTEGERLOGICAL;REALCOMPLEX,DATA,CALL,ASSIGN,CHARACTER
     R;DOFORIF=INTEGER,INTEGER;ENDDO;INTEGER=IF+IF;GOTO=INTEGER*INTEGER*
     *INTEGER*INTEGER-INTEGER-IF;CALLFUNCTION(IMPLICIT,REAL,DIMENSION,EX
     XTERNAL,FORMAT,END,LOGICAL,COMPLEX,DATA,CALL,ASSIGN,CHARACTER);CALL
     LSUBROUTINE(IMPLICIT,LOGICAL,GOTO,IF,INTEGER);END;SUBROUTINEFUNCTIO
     ON(IMPLICIT,REAL,DIMENSION,EXTERNAL,FORMAT,END,LOGICAL,COMPLEX,DATA
     A,CALL,ASSIGN,CHARACTER);RETURN;END;SUBROUTINESUBROUTINE(IMPLICIT,L
     LOGICAL,GOTO,IF,INTEGER);INTEGERGOTO,IMPLICIT(GOTO),LOGICAL(GOTO),I
     IF,INTEGER,EXTERNAL,RETURN;DOFOREXTERNAL=IF,GOTO;DOFORRETURN=INTEGE
     ER,EXTERNAL-IF;IMPLICIT(RETURN)=LOGICAL(RETURN)+LOGICAL(RETURN-IF);
     ;ENDDO;IMPLICIT(IF)=IF;IMPLICIT(EXTERNAL)=IF;DOFORRETURN=IF,GOTO-EX
     XTERNAL;WRITE(IF,'(''$  '')');ENDDO;DOFORRETURN=IF,EXTERNAL;WRITE(I
     IF,'(''$''I4)')IMPLICIT(RETURN);ENDDO;WRITE(IF,'( /)');DOFORRETURN=
     =IF,GOTO;LOGICAL(RETURN)=IMPLICIT(RETURN);ENDDO;ENDDO;END






On Thu, Dec 16, 2021 at 12:57 PM Tom Manos <tom.manos@gmail.com> wrote:

> I'm late to the party here. Although I'm a gray hair, I didn't start using
> UNIX until the early '80s, and though I've seen, and been curious about
> efl, I've never used it. Fortran 4 was my first high-level language in
> college in the '70s.
>
> That said, I do remember efl being on an early PC based UNIX - Microport
> SVR2. On later Microport UNIXen it was gone, but I can't remember whether
> it disappeared on SVR3 or 4.
>
> I currently play with 4.3BSD Quasijarus system on simh, which has efl.
> What a fun system to play with! Maybe I'll give efl a try if I can find
> enough docs to grok it.
>
> Tom
> ----
> Tom Manos
> KO4ENQ
>
>
> On Wed, Dec 15, 2021 at 3:49 AM <arnold@skeeve.com> wrote:
>
>> Hi TUHS folks!
>>
>> After having reincarnated ratfor, I am wondering about Stuart Feldman's
>> efl (extended fortran language). It was a real compiler that let you
>> define structs, and generated more or less readable Fortran code.
>>
>> I have the impression that it was pretty cool, but that it just didn't
>> catch on.  So:
>>
>> - Did anyone here ever use it personally?
>>
>> - Is my impression that it didn't catch on correct? Or am I ignorant?
>>
>> Thoughts etc. welcome. :-)
>>
>> Thanks,
>>
>> Arnold
>>
>