Re: Fortran compilers

[David Bradley <bradley@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Dear Ramiro,

	At the Solar Lab, we worked a lot with the Lahey Fortran compiler because
they have a strong record of producing good compilers that are very robust
at catching errors.  

	The main problem we found with using Lahey 90 is that a 32-bit DLL created
with Lahey will not properly execute under the Delphi executable
(TRNSYS32.EXE). The Lahey DLL is called properly the first time but
everything stops when control returns to the Delphi executable. Since the
Delphi code works perfectly with both the Microsoft, Digital, and the old
Microsoft 16-bit compiler, we have assumed there is a bug in the Lahey
compiler. We have contacted them about this but no "fix" was found. As far
as we know, a user cannot create a DLL for the Windows version. ( Of
course, if someone reading this has found a way to do this, please let me
know ;) )

	No one at the SEL has any experience with the Absoft Fortran compiler. We
looked at their website (www.absoft.com) and it seems to indicate that you
can create a 32-bit .dll which is compatible with Delphi (essential to
rebuilding TRNSYS). It also has a developer studio which looks similar but
not as comprehensive as the Digital Visual Fortran developer studio. One of
the reasons that we reccomend DVF is because of its easy to use debugging
features in the developer studio. Furthermore, it is highly recommended on
the Fortran newsgroup by the Fortran community.

Yours,
	David Bradley

At 10:20 AM 2/2/99 +0100, you wrote:
>Hello everyone:
>
>Our Laboratory have purchased one license of TRNSYS 14.2 with IISiBat,
>and now we will need one Fortran 90 compiler for Windows.
>At TRANSYS Web page (http://www.engr.wisc.edu/centers/sel/trnsys), they
>recommend the Digital Visual Fortran 6.0 as the one it suit best and
>they does not
>mention any other else, but we found another two options:
>
>    - Absoft F90/F77/C/C++ 6.0      -> Fortran and C/C++  together for a
>good price
>    - Esential Lahey Fortran 90 4.0 -> good educational price and quite
>recommended
>
>What I would like to know is if there is any known problems, limitations
>or incompatibilities
>with these two last compilers to create WINDOWS DLLs for TRNSYS. Any
>experience in
>this matter would be of a great help in order to decide what compiler to
>purchase.
>
>Best Regards
>
>
>
>--
>Ramiro Alba
>Laboratori de Termotecnia i Energetica
>
>Departament de Maquines i Motors Termics
>ETS d'Enginyers Industrials de Terrassa
>
>C/Colom 11
>
>Tf: 34 - 93 739 82 43
>Fax: 34 - 93 739 81 01
>
>e-mail: ramiro@labtie.mmt.upc.es
> 
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David BRADLEY
TRNSYS Engineer			Phone: (608) 263-1589
Solar Energy Laboratory	bradley@sel.me.wisc.edu
1500 Engineering Drive		Fax: (608) 262-8464
Madison, WI  53706

The SEL Web Site can be seen at: http://sel.me.wisc.edu
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