Friday 30 January 2015

Fortran Part4 Interview Questions and Answers

31. What does // do? 
It sticks 2 character strings together into a single string. If char1='file1.in' and char2='file2.out' then when char3=char1(1:5)//char2(6:9) the contents of char3 are 'file1.out'

32. What can I do if my lines wrap around to the next line? 
You have to get a feel for the location of the 72nd character position on the screen, or do a lot of counting. Once you hit column 72, you must hit the RETURN key, put some character (I like & or #) in column 6 of the next line then pick up typing where you left off. I usually stop before column 72 at some natural break point between variables:
123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789012
IF ( (X.LT.2.0.AND.Y.GT.30.0).OR.(X.GT.1000.0.AND.Y.LT.-40.))
& PRINT *,' CALCULATION IS IN TROUBLE'
Since Fortran tends to ignore blanks, the extra ones in the above 2 lines don't cause problems.
Explain Function Subprograms.
What you have so far is just meant as an introduction. I'll be talking about them several more times during the semester. In the mean time, play with my example in newton3.f . It will get you safely through the homework. As an exercise try adding a second function at the end of the file called FUNCTION G(x), that sets G(x)=x4-2x2+1, and add lines in the main program to evaluate G(0), G(1), G(2) and print these values.

33. What does the function REAL(x) do?
Not much if x is already a real variable. If x is and integer, the output of REAL is a real (floating point number with the same value. REAL(3) is 3.00000E+00. If x is a complex number REAL returns the real part (as opposed to the imaginary part) of x.

34. Is there a way to go back to the top of the error list after a failed compilation? 
The Unix script command will save things for you in a file. If you are running a terminal emulatorwith a "scroll bar" on the side of the window. Try clicking in the scroll bar to see old stuff. Most of you probably won't have that option, so try one of the following:
f77 test.f >& testout
f77 -qsource test.f
The first dumps everything that would go to the screen (& picks up error messages which are treated as special cases by Unix) and puts the output into a file called "testout". It will complain and fail if "testout" already exists. The second will create a nice listing file called "test.lst" containing your source code and error messages.

35. If you use a BLOCK DATA statement to initialize a common block, do you lose the advantage of a smaller executable file? 
No, and Yes. You don't lose anything because the disk space advantage was already gone when you decided to use the named common blocks rather than blank common. BLOCK DATA will only assign values to contents of named common blocks. The disk space decision takes place when you choose to place variables in named common or blank common. Please remember that you can have lots of different named common blocks, but there is only one blank common block.

36. When is the common command not used correctly in a Fortran Statement?
You're asking for quite a bit here. There are lots of ways to introduce errors. The most obvious is to try inserting a common in the midst of executable statements. It belongs up with DIMENSIONs, PARAMETER's, SAVE's, and the rest of the non-executables. A more subtle problem is the use of multiple COMMON statements for blank common or the same named common. Fortran will accept the following program:
program testcom
common a,b
common c,d
a=1.0
b=2.0
c=3.0
d=4.0
call sub1
stop
end
subroutine sub1
common c,d
print *, c, d
return
end
However, the values printed out are 1.0 and 2.0. The second common statement in the main program just tacks the variables "c" and "d" onto blank common after "b". The two commons together are equivalent to "common a,b,c,d". In the subroutine you are saying that "c" is the first element in blank common, so Fortran associates "c" in "sub1" with the same address in memory as assigned to "a" in the main program. Also recall that mixing reals and integers (common/blk1/a,b,i,c) when the reals are double precision may cause errors on some machines, and is not a good idea on any 32 bit machine.

37. If you're eventually going to use X(1:N) with a chosen N what's the point in using X(*)? 
Given what you know now, no point at all. If N is available to me in the argument list, I would generally use "REAL X(N)" rather than "REAL X(*)". Two exceptions to this. If I pass N as an argument to give the range of a DO loop associated with X, but also make a special reference to X(N+1) later in the subroutine, I would use "X(*)" to note that the array is really longer than N. Some smart compilers will force me to do this. The second exception is related to Fortran 77. As mentioned below, I can pass N to my subroutine through a COMMON block and not include it in the argument list. If that is how I do it, pure Fortran 77 won't accept "REAL X(N)", and I'm stuck with "REAL X(*)". Fortran 90 and most late model improved Fortran 77 compilers will permit "REAL X(N)" when N is in a COMMON block.

38. What's the use of a blank common as opposed to a common with a name? 
The major use is in cutting the size of the executable file produced by "f77" (usually a.out). It won't seem like a big deal to you now, but in applications containing many arrays with thousands to millions of elements each, this can make a huge difference in the amount of disk space you soak up. A secondary use is that, when the program starts, the space finally allocated to blank common in memory is at the very end of the program. If you are tricky enough, you can take advantage of this to dynamically extend the size of a single array in blank common as your space requirements grow during execution.

39. If we write a subroutine for someone else, how can we compile it to see if it will run before giving it to them? 
This question gets to the heart of good programming practices. I'll give you an introduction here, and emphasize some of these points in later lectures. The easy part of the answer was hidden in the demonstration where I compiled 2 parts of a program separately and made a program on the 2nd partial compile. If you make a subroutine in a file called "subr1.f", you can compile to just test for Fortran errors with the command "f77 -c subr1.f". The "-c" option says just go through the compilation steps but don't make an executable code for me. This will leave a file behind called "subr1.o", which is almost machine instructions, and is ready to be linked to other stuff to make a full program. You're really not done yet. You should write a very short driver main program, that feeds some numbers to subr1 (call subr1(...)) for which you know the returned answer. You thencheck the known answers against the subroutine's answers before declaring victory. This testing is often easier said than done. Most useful subroutines do some fairly complicated calculations and contain IF tests that can result in different options being used depending on the input conditions. Designing test cases and checking methods can be challenging, but is essential. When approached systematically, this testing process is science at its best. You are in the business of constructing and interpreting controlled experiments. When using computers, most people simply treat them as an extension to theoretical science, another way to solve some equations. By recognizing the organized experimental aspects of creating and using computer programs you can give yourself a competitive advantage in this business.

40. What is the advantage of an array over a spreadsheet format? 
Both can store similar types of information in a neatly labeled and organized way. The advantage lies in where they are used. You have more control over how Fortran arrays are used than how the contents of a spreadsheet are used. In addition for any given operation on an array of numbers, once the Fortran is written, it will do the job much faster than a spreadsheet. On the other hand, when operations are not complex and computer execution time is not a problem using the spreadsheet is probably your best bet.
More Questions & Answers :-
Part1  Part2  Part3  Part4  Part5  Part6

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