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Fortran Programming Language
Description
Fortran Compilers
Currently, the supported Fortran compilers on the FASRC Cannon cluster are GNU gfortran, Intel ifx, and NVIDIA nvfortran.
GNU gfortran
GNU gfortran, part of the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC), is an open-source compiler known for its adherence to Fortran standards and portability across different platforms. To compile a Fortran program named example.f90 with GNU gfortran, you can use the following commands:
# Load a GCC software module, e.g., module load gcc/13.2.0-fasrc01 # Compile the program, e.g., gfortran -O2 -o example_gfortran.x example.f90
This command compiles example.f90 into an executable named example_gfortran.x. In the above example we also apply level 2 optimization with the -O2 compiler flag, improving the performance of the compiled code.
Intel ifx
Intel Fortran Compiler (ifx, formerly ifort ) is renowned for its robust optimization capabilities and superior performance, particularly on Intel architectures. Developed by Intel, ifx leverages advanced optimization techniques to generate highly efficient machine code tailored to Intel processors. When compiling Fortran code with ifx, developers can take advantage of optimizations such as auto-vectorization, inter-procedural optimization, and CPU-specific tuning to achieve significant performance improvements. To compile the same Fortran program example.f90 with Intel ifx, you can use the following command:
# Load an Intel software module, e.g., module load intel/24.0.1-fasrc01 # Compile the program, e.g., ifx -O2 -o example_ifx.x example.f90
Similar to gfortran, this command compiles example.f90 into an executable named example_ifx.x. Intel ifx typically performs optimization by default, but you can explicitly specify optimization level using the -O2 flag.
NVIDIA nvfortran (formerly PGI Fortran)
NVIDIA HPC SDK is a suite of compilers and tools designed for high-performance computing (HPC) applications, including Fortran. NVIDIA Fortran compiler provides extensive optimization capabilities tailored to both CPU and GPU architectures, making it a preferred choice for developers working in fields such as scientific computing, weather modeling, and computational fluid dynamics. When compiling Fortran code with NVIDIA nvfortran, developers can harness advanced optimizations like GPU offloading, where computationally intensive portions of the code are executed on NVIDIA GPUs for accelerated performance. Additionally, it offers support for directives such as OpenACC, allowing developers to easily parallelize and optimize their code for heterogeneous computing environments. While nvfortran excels in optimizing code for NVIDIA GPUs, it also delivers competitive performance on CPU architectures, making it a versatile choice for HPC development.
For compiling Fortran programs with NVIDIA nvfortran, the process may involve targeting both CPU and GPU architectures. Here’s an example command to compile example.f90 with nvfortran for a CPU target:
# Load a NVIDIA HPC SDK software module, e.g., module load nvhpc/23.7-fasrc01 # Compile the program, e.g., nvfortran -o example_nvfortran.x example.f90
This command produces an executable named example_nvfortran.x
Examples
To get started with Fortran on the Harvard University FAS cluster you can try the examples in our User Codes repository.