Modernization Best Practices

Mission-critical code written in Fortran and C/C++ runs at the heart of operational infrastructures for Climate & Weather, Aerospace & Defense, Nuclear Simulation, Scientific Research, High-Performance Computing (HPC), Energy and Oil & Gas. The modernization of Fortran code encompasses updating and maintaining decades-old legacy code bases (e.g., F77, F90) as well as conducting code refactorizations to stay compliant with the latest Fortran standards (e.g., transitioning from F90 to F23).

Community-driven initiatives focused on recommendations for Fortran developers have the potential to help standardize best practices for the modernization of Fortran code. The success of the OWASP Top Ten in the scope of secure coding recommendations shows the potential of conducting a similar initiative for the Fortran-lang community. Key topics of Fortran modernization to take into consideration are adherence to modern Fortran standards, writing modular, maintainable and clean code, using modern compiler suites, leveraging optimized libraries, performance optimization, and interoperabilty with other programming languages.

Discover the “Fortran-lang Top 10 Recommendations for Modernization” through our easy-to-read downloadable report and learn how to leverage the Open Catalog for Modernization using Codee, the best-in-class static analyzer and source code formatter for Fortran.