Intel Fortran Compiler 16.0
Intel just announced the availability of version 16.0 of the Intel Fortran Compiler (part of Intel Parallel Studio XE 2016). New features include:
- Submodules (Fortran 2008)
IMPURE ELEMENTAL(Fortran 2008)EXITfromBLOCK(Fortran 2008)- Full "Further Interoperability with C" implementation from TS29113 (Fortran 2015)
- Improved coarray performance on Linux and Windows
- On Windows, support for Visual Studio 2015
The new "C Descriptor" feature from Fortran 2015 looks pretty awesome, and finally plugs some of the holes in the C interoperability feature first introduced in Fortran 2003. It now allows C code to interact with Fortran pointers, allocatable variables, assumed shape variables, and CHARACTER(*) strings.
I used to be excited about submodules, which have the potential to reduce compilation cascades for very large projects. However, since Intel added the multi-processor compile option on Windows a few versions ago, that has been less bothersome for me. I'll probably try it out anyway, since it also might be useful for organizational purposes (splitting up very large modules into multiple submodules).