So what do I need to buy?

[benta]

Hello!

So, here's my problem:

Due to change in jobs, I have to start using MS Windows.

I think I will be OK with it, but I have heard it has a bug in it somewhere.

And I will need an IDE to work on my F90 programs. Now, the version of the Intel F compiler for MS windows says that I have to buy something from MS called visual studio or visual c++, but when checking the local dealer, I note that he has *many* boxes with similar names on the shelf.

The cheapest is the "visual c++ .net standard edition". Would that work for me?

I just want the IDE to help me use F90. My applications are pretty much all calculations, and the idea of "managed code" scares me, so am not going to use the C++ net compiler ever, but I actually find the visual basic languae intriguing for QoD applications.

Thanks for any help!

[TimP]

There's been plenty of discussion before on this forum; Visual Studio Standard ought to be fine. Or, are you asking about Windows versions? All need to be brought up to date with on-line patches. Windows 2000 remains useful, if it fits your hardware or entertainment requirements.

[Steven_L_Intel1]

Yes, Visual C++.NET 2003 Standard Edition is the least expensive option that will satisfy Intel Visual Fortran. (There is no "Visual Studio Standard Edition".)

[durisinm]

You won't get Visual Basic with Visual C++.NET.

MS Windows has LOTS of bugs in it. Try not to think about it.

Mike D.

[benta]

Thanks for the advice guys!

The C++ works and the Visual Studio actually helps making programs from different languages talking to each other.

The code I haveports easily.

Now my only problem left seems to be to read the binary files with the data. Will snoop around for some sample code.

BTW, anyone know ifthe next gen Fortran will have unsigned integers?

[Steven_L_Intel1]

What wrote the binary data? You can open the file with FORM='BINARY' in the OPEN and use unformatted READS to read the raw data.

No unsigned integers in the forseeable future.

[benta]

Hello!

All my binary data comes from programs written in C++,VB, or LabView (yes, a mess). They get the numbers fromsome ADC somewhere set to12 bit unsigned.I got it working now, just realized the files had endian integers everywhere except for in the LabView data.

A pity there wont be unsigned integers; Is there a technical reason somewhere related to how the processors are working?

Thanks for the advice above!

[benta]

Myguess was wrong...About unsigneds in IA32, Sec 4.2;

http://www.cis.nctu.edu.tw/~wuuyang/Lecture.Compiler/IA322002.V1.24547009.pdf

[Intel_C_Intel]

Dear Benta,

Please note that the Intel compilers for both C/C++ and Fortran and for the various platforms more or less share the same source base between front-end (language specific) and back-end (target specific). And since C/C++ happily supports unsigned integers, nothing in the compiler itselfinherently prohibits unsigned integer support. In a few rare cases, you can actually observe some of this support even in a Fortran fragment. For example, compiling the following fragment

program sat
integer*1 a(256)
integer*2 b(256)
integer x
do i = 1, 256
x = b(i)
if (x.lt.0) x = 0
if (x.gt.255) x = 255
a(i) = x
enddo
end

for IA32 as follows

ifort -QxP sat.f

sat.f(6) : (col. 9) remark: LOOP WAS VECTORIZED.

yields vectorized code that maps the whole loop onto an unsigned saturating conversion idiom:

$B1$3:
movdqa xmm0, XMMWORD PTR SAT$B$0$0[0+eax*2]
packuswb xmm0, XMMWORD PTR SAT$B$0$0[0+eax*2+16]
movdqa XMMWORD PTR SAT$A$0$0[eax], xmm0
add eax, 16
cmp eax, 256
jb $B1$3

But such cases are, alas,rare in Fortran, becauseall following code that uses this array must be aware of the unsigned interpretation of its contents (e.g. naivelyusing the 255 ==0xff value in "normal" integer expressions would be interpreted as signed -1).....

Aart Bik
http://www.aartbik.com/

Message Edited by abik on 05-17-2005 06:54 PM

[Steven_L_Intel1]

No technical reason - but an unsigned datatype was never added to the Fortran language standard nor is there a widely implemented extension. The language does have features that can help you deal with unsigned data, such as intrinsics for extracting bit sequences and doing bit mask operations.