# Who still uses the Fortran interface? **URL:** \ **Category:** HDF4\ **Created:** [February 20, 2023, 6:37pm UTC](https://forum.hdfgroup.org/t/who-still-uses-the-fortran-interface/10854 "2023-02-20T18:37:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![derobins](https://forum.hdfgroup.org/user_avatar/forum.hdfgroup.org/derobins/32/1481_2.png) [@derobins](https://forum.hdfgroup.org/u/derobins)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2023, 6:37pm UTC](https://forum.hdfgroup.org/t/who-still-uses-the-fortran-interface/10854/1 "2023-02-20T18:37:44Z")
The Fortran interface in HDF4 is broken on 64-bit systems since it stores pointers in 32-bit Fortran INTEGER values. If it’s working for you on a 64-bit system, that’s an accident. Since there’s no funding to rework the interface, I’d like to remove it so people don’t use fundamentally broken code. Perhaps someone in the community would be interested in creating a modern Fortran replacement. We could create a GitHub issue with pertinent information should someone like to do that. ---
**Author:** ![mike.jackson](https://forum.hdfgroup.org/user_avatar/forum.hdfgroup.org/mike.jackson/32/1734_2.png) [@mike.jackson](https://forum.hdfgroup.org/u/mike.jackson)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2023, 9:25pm UTC](https://forum.hdfgroup.org/t/who-still-uses-the-fortran-interface/10854/3 "2023-02-20T21:25:43Z")
Are we talking about HDF4 or HDF5? HDF4 is in the title, but you stated HDF5? ---
**Author:** ![derobins](https://forum.hdfgroup.org/user_avatar/forum.hdfgroup.org/derobins/32/1481_2.png) [@derobins](https://forum.hdfgroup.org/u/derobins)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2023, 11:51pm UTC](https://forum.hdfgroup.org/t/who-still-uses-the-fortran-interface/10854/4 "2023-02-20T23:51:09Z")
Sorry, HDF4. Typo on my part. ---
**Author:** ![sundot86](https://forum.hdfgroup.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/91b2a8/32.png) [@sundot86](https://forum.hdfgroup.org/u/sundot86)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2023, 12:39pm UTC](https://forum.hdfgroup.org/t/who-still-uses-the-fortran-interface/10854/5 "2023-02-24T12:39:36Z")
More than 50 years after its debut, Fortran, the first high-level computer language, is still used every day: in Doppler radar weather forecasts or atmospheric and oceanic studies, as well as simulating nanoparticles, genomes, DNA and atomic structures. ---
**Author:** ![schwehr](https://forum.hdfgroup.org/user_avatar/forum.hdfgroup.org/schwehr/32/1735_2.png) [@schwehr](https://forum.hdfgroup.org/u/schwehr)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2023, 12:51am UTC](https://forum.hdfgroup.org/t/who-still-uses-the-fortran-interface/10854/6 "2023-03-07T00:51:29Z")
sundot86, I think the question is different: Is anyone currently using the HDF4 Fortran interface? That’s a lot more narrow questions and doesn’t concern what the application topic is. Many of us know that Fortran has many current uses. And [https://fortran-lang.org/](https://fortran-lang.org/) has brought a lot of excitement to the language recently. My guess is that all (or almost all) the users of HDF from Fortran long ago migrated to HDF5. ---
**Author:** ![derobins](https://forum.hdfgroup.org/user_avatar/forum.hdfgroup.org/derobins/32/1481_2.png) [@derobins](https://forum.hdfgroup.org/u/derobins)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2023, 8:26am UTC](https://forum.hdfgroup.org/t/who-still-uses-the-fortran-interface/10854/7 "2023-06-28T08:26:53Z")