# Fortran 87 Hacker News commenters recommended Fortran and 20 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 12 of 13 months; owners who said how long report a median of 8 years (5 owners). It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule. **Verdict:** Recommended for fast numerical code, with built-in multidimensional arrays and strong HPC and GPU support. Critics most often warn that older portable standards are at risk from compiler breaking changes. ## Why people recommend it - Multidimensional arrays and fast loops (7 comments): "Multidimensional arrays out of the box, fast loops, native cuda support, trivial build and packaging system, zero version churning" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46208937)) "If your problem fits into arrays/matrices/vectors as the only required datastructures, Fortran is a VERY good language." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46306565)) "best in class in its niche: writing numerical algorithms that compile to highly optimized machine code" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50111215)) - Readable code for scientists (5 comments): "it's built for exactly this usecase, and scientists will still be able to read your code without a CS degree" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47820523)) "the best features to me are colon array slicing syntax like Python/Numpy and arrays being indexed from 1" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46306215)) "It's syntax for mathematical operations is head and shoulders above most more recent languages." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50111894)) - Strong HPC and GPU performance (4 comments): "the only fully supported higher-than-C level language that can produce HPC applications without fighting a compiler left and right" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48264781)) "for numerical code to be run on a specific hardware, including GPU, it's pretty close to perfect" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47822476)) "that's why I find Fortran still serves them better for numerics than anything that came since" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48265273)) - Simple C interoperability and builds (3 comments): "Multidimensional arrays out of the box, fast loops, native cuda support, trivial build and packaging system, zero version churning" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46208937)) "It has C FFI, it can compile to static programs and to dynamic libraries, it has C-like performance" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48293371)) "The advantage of having stuff in C and Fortran is that it can easily be used from other languages" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45896998)) ## What people warn about - Dated design and limited control structures (3 comments): "But the control structures were very limited, everything was basically jumps and gotos." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50107333)) "lots about its design feels very old-fashioned to my (not particularly young) eyes" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47811290)) "It's crazy by modern standards; in some cases you have to see as far as the second-last character" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50109530)) - Portability and breaking changes across compilers (3 comments): "Your code will work unchanged until you try to change compilers or your compiler adopts a J3 breaking change to the language." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47461663)) "Fortran 77 and 90 were portable across compilers, but are now at risk from breaking changes" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46515173)) "This might work if Fortran were portable, or if only one compiler were targeted." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47053173)) - Weak software engineering features (2 comments): "There was a lot of terrible stuff in FORTRAN from a software engineering point of view" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50105146)) "Fortran is a terrible language for developing an OS. It doesn't even have pointers." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49350126)) ## Alternatives hackers recommend - [Rust](https://hackerapproved.com/p/rust.md): 2039 recommend - [Go](https://hackerapproved.com/p/go-programming-language.md): 1254 recommend - [Python](https://hackerapproved.com/p/python.md): 1067 recommend - [Zig](https://hackerapproved.com/p/zig.md): 743 recommend - [TypeScript](https://hackerapproved.com/p/typescript.md): 574 recommend ## Cite as Hacker Approved, "Fortran", https://hackerapproved.com/p/fortran/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).