The pfort verifier

The PFORT Verifier is a program which checks a FORTRAN program (i.e. a main program and a set of subprograms) for adherence to a large, carefully defined, portable subset of American National Standard FORTRAN called PFORT. Unlike many FORTRAN implementations, the Verifier diagnoses errors in interprogram‐unit communication through argument lists and COMMON. The Verifier is itself written in PFORT and has been installed on a variety of computers. This paper describes the development of PFORT and the Verifier. A detailed definition of PFORT noting its differences from ANS FORTRAN is included.