Fortran90: Introduction and use in 3-D geophysical problems

Robert G. Clapp and Sean Crawley

bob@sep.stanford.edu, sean@sep.stanford.edu

ABSTRACT

There is a general consensus in the scientific community that object oriented programming is the correct way to perform research. The object oriented approach allows much more complex ideas to be explored by allowing the scientist to concentrate on ideas rather than algorithms. This feature is especially attractive in problems such as we encounter in 3-D processing, where dealing with the huge data size and irregularity is extremely cumbersome and prone to errors, in traditional languages such as Fortran77. We use Fortran90, built upon the existing SEP90 accessors routines, as the building blocks to an object oriented processing environment. Our initial efforts indicate that a Fortran90 base can provide the flexibility of C++, while maintaining the simplicity of Fortran, to effectively solve complex geophysical problems.