D. Haugli, Lecturer Aer E 160 Aerospace Engineering
9/12/2005 Compiling & Running Programs, Page 1 Iowa State University
Compiling & Running Programs
This document describes how to create an executable file from a FORTRAN text (.f90) file on
any standard Linux/Unix system (such as the Aerospace Engineering servers). An executable
file contains binary commands that the computer interprets to run a program.
This document assumes the reader is logged onto a Linux or Unix server.
Main Programs. To compile a FORTRAN main program, issue the command:
command prompt$ <insert compiler name> <insert main program name.f90>
The name of the compiler on the Aerospace Engineering servers is ifort. On Project Vincent
(isua.iastate.edu), the compiler is named f90. The program must be saved as standard
ASCII text in a file ending with .f90. Filenames must start with a letter, and may contain any
combination of letters, numbers and the underscore character; no other characters are allowed.
Example 1. Assume the following files contain FORTRAN programs. The
following names would be legal:
hello.f90 main.f90 program1.f90 Prob_1.f90
(Note: Unix and Linux are case sensitive, so Prob_1.f90 differs from prob_1.f90.)
The following names would be illegal:
hello.txt.f90 1.f90 prob3-1.f90 _pro.f90
Example 2. Assume the prompt looks like this: bash-3.0$. Compile the
program hello.f90 at the command prompt using the ifort compiler.
bash-3.0$ ifort hello.f90 <enter>
bash-3.0$
The second prompt in Example 2 would appear after the compiler successfully compiled
hello.f90. If the file had contained errors, a list of error messages would have appeared instead.
Generally, the first error in a list of errors causes some of the later errors; the later errors will be
eliminated when the first error is fixed. An “error” (sometimes called a “fatal error”) is so severe
that the compiler cannot create an executable file; A “warning” means that an executable file can
be created, but the compiler found evidence that something might not be correct in the code.
