Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

> In 20 years Matlab will be as legacy as Fortran is now, still some left but mostly forgone.

This is a joke, right?

In many academic disciplines that involve numerical work, the amount of Fortran code in use today greatly exceeds that of any of the rivals.

Professors were forced to use Fortran by their advisors when they were in school, so most of their code is in it. These professors are not going to allow their students to reinvent any wheels. And the cycle continues. To give you an idea of how extreme this phenomenon is - almost all the Fortran code out there in academia is still in Fortran 77.



Consider applying for YC's Summer 2026 batch! Applications are open till May 4

Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: