File Extensions .fi and .rc

[Robert]

In Microsoft Visual Studio, when one right clicks on Source Files and selects “ADD NEW ITEM”, .fi and .rc file extensions are two of the options. The descriptions say:

.fi   Fortran header file     

.rc   Fortran resource file

Can someone please explain what the intent is for these two file types?  Is the .fi extension to be used for include files? Such as when one uses the Fortran include statement:  Include ‘file_name.fi’

[Steven_L_Intel1]

.fi is intended for use for Fortran include files, but it's there only because Microsoft used it in its Fortran products back in the 1990s. You can use any file type you want in an INCLUDE, but I would recommend staying away from .f, .for or .f90 as Visual Studio will try to compile them separately. I happen to like to use .inc and some people use .h.

.rc is for the Resource Compiler and the Resource Editor creates this type. You don't typically create one on your own. This is where dialog boxes and the like get defined.

[Robert]

Steve,

Thank you for the information. And thank you for the history of the .fi extension being first put out there by Microsoft in the '90s.  I remember the old Microsoft FORTRAN PowerStation. Was PowerStation the predecessor to Digital Visual FORTRAN?  

Regards,

Bob

[Steven_L_Intel1]

Sort of. Microsoft wanted to exit the Fortran business and worked with Digital to create a "successor product". Digital Visual Fortran was the Digital Fortran 90 compiler, not Microsoft's. The libraries did have some MS code (such as QuickWin). By the way, Fortran is spelled in mixed case - it has been that way since 1991.

[jimdempseyatthecove]

>> Fortran is spelled in mixed case

Sad to see it is not ForTran (Formula Translator).

Jim Dempsey