Perl Debugged

12.3. Tips for the FORTRAN Programmer

Perl code appears quite odd to a FORTRAN programer. FORTRAN uses ( ) (parentheses) exclusively for indices. An array element has the form ARRELM(1), a matrix element has the form MATELM(1,1), and a subroutine call takes the form CALL ASUB ( VALUE1, VALUE2 ), whereas Perl uses ( ) (parentheses), [ ] (brackets), and { } (braces) in various ways depending on data type and function. For instance, whereas $a[$i] refers to an element of an array, $a{$i} refers to a value in a hash. Forgetting the proper uses of these separators is a common error for the neophyte Perler experienced in FORTRAN.

If you use FORTRAN for its native handling of high-precision floating point numbers (and if you don't—what are you using ...