> 1) What makes a language like Fortran so intimidating?
FORTRAN 77 (and FORTRAN 66) was a pretty primitive language. Source code still used line numbers, no malloc, no recursion (there is a workaround, though), very cumbersome text manipulation.
When Pascal and C got popular in the 70s and 80s, FORTRAN 77 felt ancient in comparison.
I guess the jokes originate in the 80s, and from then on they have lived in the folklore, told to new generations. Fortran 90 came only in 1992 (and then later 95/03/08) and while it is much modernized, I don't think the people telling the jokes have yet looked at it.
FORTRAN 77 (and FORTRAN 66) was a pretty primitive language. Source code still used line numbers, no malloc, no recursion (there is a workaround, though), very cumbersome text manipulation.
When Pascal and C got popular in the 70s and 80s, FORTRAN 77 felt ancient in comparison.
I guess the jokes originate in the 80s, and from then on they have lived in the folklore, told to new generations. Fortran 90 came only in 1992 (and then later 95/03/08) and while it is much modernized, I don't think the people telling the jokes have yet looked at it.