by Mike
Before disposing of old pcs or laptops I always remove the hard-disk which I sometimes keep (just in case) but otherwise I take a hammer to.
These two ancient beauties have now been hammered.
Back in 2001, for a challenge, I taught myself part of the Python programming language and wrote a program based on the idea of a Fortran program I wrote decades ago. Now, for another challenge, I’ve written the same program – in Fortran! I had to dig out a free compiler from the Internet (Fortran 90). Things have developed and changed since I was a programmer and I have had to learn new things in the language. Back then I think I used Fortran 66 and Fortran 77.
It’s been fun coding in Fortran, again! For the record, I downloaded and used a free product Code::Blocks, which I’ve found to be successful. I also found this YouTube video to explain configuring of Code::Blocks for Fortran.
! ===================================================================
! Program REMINDER
!
! Decades ago I wrote a FORTRAN program to take a file of reminders
! and to display the records in a sorted and pretty format.
! In March 2021, for fun, I wrote a Python version of the program.
! Now, in January 2023, for fun, I have again written a FORTRAN version.
!
! Version 0.1 20-Jan-2023 Start of conversion of the Python code
! Version 1.0 29-Jan-2023 Final version.....?
!
! ===================================================================
program Reminder
use ReminderModule ! All the functions/subroutines are in this module.
implicit none
type (rec_data) ReminderTable(100)
character myfile*100
integer Nreminders
myFile = "C:\Users\Mike\Documents\Documents\MyFortranCode\MyReminderProject\Reminder.dat"
call GetReminderData(myFile,ReminderTable,Nreminders)
call SortList (ReminderTable,Nreminders)
call PrintList(ReminderTable,Nreminders)
end program Reminder
!
!==========================================================
! Module REMINDERMODULE containing all the functions and subroutines.
!==========================================================
module ReminderModule
!
implicit none
type rec_data !Structure to hold the reminder records
character*11 rec_date !reminder date
character*50 rec_event !reminder event
integer rec_numdays !Calculate days between date and today's date
end type rec_data
contains
!============================================================
!Subroutine GETREMINDERDATA to get the reminder records
!Records are of the form dd-mmm-yyyy,"Event description" and are unordered
!============================================================
subroutine GetReminderData(filename,ReminderTable,N)
implicit none
integer mystatus,N,ans,ans_today
character filename*(*), mystatusmessage*200,mydate*11,mytext*50,today*8
character monthchar*3,months*36
integer d,m,y
type (rec_data) ReminderTable(*)
data months/"JANFEBMARAPRMAYJUNJULAUGSEPOCTNOVDEC"/
open (unit=1,file=filename,action='read', &
form='formatted',iostat=mystatus,iomsg=mystatusmessage)
if (myStatus /= 0) then
write (*,'(///2a)') "OOPS! ", mystatusmessage
stop
endif
!
! Calculate the number of days between today and a base date
!
call date_and_time(date=today) ! Inbuilt procedure
read(unit=today,fmt='(i4,i2,i2)')y,m,d ! This used to be done using an ENCODE statement!
call getDays(d,m,y,ans_today) !Get the number of days between today and a base date
!
! Get the reminder records
!
N = 0
do
read (unit=1,fmt=*,iostat=mystatus,iomsg=mystatusmessage)mydate,mytext
if (mystatus /= 0) then
exit
else
N=N+1
ReminderTable(N)%rec_date = mydate
ReminderTable(N)%rec_event = mytext
read (unit=mydate,fmt='(i2,1x,a3,1x,i4)')d,monthchar,y ! Get the date components
m = index(months,uppercase(monthchar))/3+1 ! Lookup the month number using the month text
call getDays(d,m,y,ans) !Get the number of days between the date and a base date
ReminderTable(N)%rec_numdays = ans - ans_today !Number of days between date and today's date
end if
end do
close (unit=1)
end subroutine
!============================================================
! Subroutine GETDAYS to calculate the number of days between
! the supplied date and an arbitrary base date (01/01/2000)
!============================================================
subroutine getDays( day,month,year ,ans)
implicit none
integer ans,i,daysPerMonth(1:12),daysPerMonthLeapYear(1:12)
integer day,month,year
data daysPerMonth / 31, 28, 31, 30, 31, 30, 31, 31, 30, 31, 30, 31 /
data daysPerMonthLeapYear / 31, 29, 31, 30, 31, 30, 31, 31, 30, 31, 30, 31 /
ans=0
do i = 2000, year-1 ! Add up the days in the preceding years of the supplied date
ans=ans +365
if (isLeap(i)) ans=ans + 1
end do
!
do i =1,month-1,1 ! Add up the days in the preceding months in the year of the supplied date
if (isLeap(year)) then
ans = ans + daysPerMonthLeapYear(i)
else
ans=ans + daysPerMonth(i)
end if
end do
!
ans = ans + day - 1 ! Finally add in the number of days (less 1) of the month of the supplied date
!
end subroutine getdays
!=============================================================
! Function ISLEAP to determine if a year is a leap year
!=============================================================
logical function isLeap(Y)
!
integer Y
!
! A leap year is divisible by 400 or, is divisible by 4 but not by 100
!
isLeap = (mod(Y,400) .EQ. 0) .OR. (mod(Y,4) .EQ. 0 .AND. mod(Y,100) .NE. 0)
end function isleap
!
!=============================================================
! Subroutine SORTLIST to sort the data in date order.
!=============================================================
subroutine SortList (ReminderTable,N)
type (rec_data) :: ReminderTable(*),temp
integer :: N,i,j
logical :: Swapped
DO j = N-1, 1, -1
swapped = .FALSE.
DO i = 1, j
IF (ReminderTable(i)%rec_numdays > ReminderTable(i+1)%rec_numdays) THEN
temp = ReminderTable(i)
ReminderTable(i) = ReminderTable(i+1)
ReminderTable(i+1) = temp
swapped = .TRUE.
END IF
END DO
IF (.NOT. swapped) EXIT
END DO
end subroutine
!
!=============================================================
! Function UPPERCASE to convert text to upper case.
!=============================================================
function uppercase(string)
character(len=*), intent(in) :: string
character(len=len(string)) :: uppercase
integer :: j
do j = 1,len(string)
if(string(j:j) >= "a" .and. string(j:j) <= "z") then
uppercase(j:j) = achar(iachar(string(j:j)) - 32)
else
uppercase(j:j) = string(j:j)
end if
end do
end function uppercase
!
!====================================================
! Function PRINTLIST to nicely print the data
!====================================================
subroutine PrintList (ReminderTable,N)
type (rec_data) :: ReminderTable(*)
integer :: N, nDays, i
logical :: tChange
character*16 t1
character*75,parameter :: mySectionSeparator="---------------------------------------------------"
tChange = .TRUE.
write (*,'(/////)')
write (*,'(2x,a)')mySectionSeparator
write (*,'(2x,a)')" Welcome to my FORTRAN Reminder program!"
write (*,'(2x,a)')mySectionSeparator
do i = 1, N
nDays = ReminderTable(i)%rec_numdays
if (tChange .eqv. .TRUE. .and. nDays > 0) then
tChange = .False.
write (*,'(2x,a)') mySectionSeparator
end if
if (nDays == 0) then
t1 = " Today "
else if (nDays == -1) then
t1 = " Yesterday "
else if (nDays == 1) then
t1 = " Tomorrow "
else if (nDays < 0) then
write(unit=t1,fmt='(i4,a)')-ndays," days since" !In my days it was the ENCODE statement
else
write(unit=t1,fmt='(i4,a)')ndays," days until"
end if
write (*,'(2x,a,1x,a,1x,a,a)')ReminderTable(i)%rec_date,t1,ReminderTable(i)%rec_event
end do
write (*,'(2x,a///)')mySectionSeparator
end subroutine
end module
So what don’t I like about my new laptop keyboard? It’s got a numeric keypad, that’s what. The Delete, Backspace and Enter keys should be on the extreme right of the keyboard not stuck in the middle. Unless you’re entering a lot of numeric data there’s no point in having the number keys on the right. I won’t make the same mistake with my next laptop! It doesn’t help that I’m still using the old laptop as well as the new one, so switching between the two leads to a lot of keystroke errors on the new laptop.
Grrrr….
NEW laptop
OLD laptop
For a challenge I’ve tried to teach myself the Python programming language. It’s a big language with many features which I, as an ex-programmer from many decades ago, am unfamiliar with. But I’ve managed to write and test the code below, though I’m not sure I want to take this much further. I’ll see…..
import csv
from datetime import datetime
from operator import attrgetter
#======================================================
# A re-creation of my Reminder program from several decades ago!! My first Python program!
#
# Version 0.1 04-Mar-2021 In the beginning
# Version 0.2 07-Mar-2021 In the beginning
# Version 0.3 07-Mar-2021 I'm finally happy!
#======================================================
class Reminder:
def __init__(self, myRec):
self.Date = myRec[0]
self.DateTimeConversion = datetime.strptime(myRec[0],"%d-%b-%Y")
self.Message = myRec[1]
#======================================================
# Function GetReminderData to get the reminder data
#
#
# Read each record in the file
# Ignore any blank lines
# Add each record to the list myReminders
#
def GetReminderData(myFile,myReminders) :
with open(myFile) as csv_file:
csv_reader = csv.reader(csv_file, delimiter=',')
line_count = 0
for rec in csv_reader:
if rec == []:
pass
else:
line_count += 1
p = Reminder(rec)
myReminders.append(p)
csv_file.close()
#====================================================
# Function HowManyDaysDifference to get the number of days between today's date and a text date
# This is my weird code - what a palaver!
def HowManyDaysDifference(TextDate):
today_object = datetime.now()
mydate_in_datetime = datetime.strptime(TextDate,"%d-%b-%Y")
tdiff = mydate_in_datetime - today_object
diff_in_days = tdiff.days
if diff_in_days >= 0:
diff_in_days += 1
else:
tdiff = today_object - mydate_in_datetime
diff_in_days = -tdiff.days
return diff_in_days
#==================================================
# Function PrintList to nicely print the data
def PrintList ():
mySectionSeparator = "-" * 75
tChange = True
print ("\n" * 10 )
print (" Welcome to my Python Reminder program!")
print (mySectionSeparator)
for i in sorted(myReminders, key = attrgetter('DateTimeConversion')):
nDays = HowManyDaysDifference(i.Date)
if tChange and nDays > 0:
tChange = False
print (mySectionSeparator)
if nDays == 0:
t1 = " Today "
elif nDays == -1:
t1 = " Yesterday "
elif nDays == 1:
t1 = " Tomorrow "
elif nDays < 0:
t1 = '{:4d}'.format(-nDays) + " days since"
else:
t1 = '{:4d}'.format(nDays) + " days until"
t2 = i.Date +t1
print (t2,i.Message)
print (mySectionSeparator)
#=================================================
# This is the MAIN program
#
myFile = 'C:/Users/Mike/Documents/Documents/MyPythonCode/Reminder.dat'
myReminders = []
GetReminderData(myFile, myReminders)
PrintList()
I have a friend who occasionally rings me up with his computer problems. Yesterday he called to say his annual anti-virus licence was going to expire that day. He confessed to having ignored the renewal reminders!
My experience with renewing McAfee anti-virus licences is that a) renewing from McAfee is ridiculously expensive, and b) not renewing from McAfee is never straightforward. My friend took my advice and went for the second option and purchased a McAfee licence from another company (InterSecure.co.uk). Inevitably the update wasn’t straightforward and wasn’t successful, hence his call for my assistance. In normal times I would probably have gone to my friend’s home, but these are not normal times.
I searched the web for how to remotely take control of someone’s computer and came across a very helpful page on the PCMag site “How to Remotely Troubleshoot Your Relative’s Computer“. Although I’ve had a career in IT support I’d never needed to do this before and this web page proved a godsend. The section on using a Windows 10 PC to take control of another Windows 10 PC was very straightforward and uses the Quick Assist tool (found under Windows Accessories). Having taken remote control of my friend’s PC I was able to install the new licence for his anti-virus software, though it wasn’t straightforward!!😎
I’m currently reading ‘Confessions of a Ghostwriter’ by Andrew Crofts, one of a handful of recent books from Dorking’s Oxfam Books. It’s prompted me to recall the time I sat in an office opposite Colin, who was a freelancer and had the job title of technical writer.
At the time I never understood how someone could write a technical document on a subject they had no knowledge or experience of. My view of Colin was probably also conditioned by the fact that he seemed to spend most of the working day on the phone discussing this, that and the other about cricket. Colin was either a cricketer or involved in the running of a local cricket club or league. I don’t recall seeing any technical documents Colin produced, so I’m not able to judge whether he was good at his job.
As part of the process of developing computer software, I always loved writing the necessary user documentation. I wrote documentation much as I wrote software. I dived in and after many re-writes and revisions I would arrive at what I regarded a pleasing end-product. This is probably not recommended or efficient but it was the way that suited my way of thinking and working.
Interestingly, when it comes to writing a blog post, I can often write something in my head but when it comes to entering it into the computer I somehow lose the words. Hence most of my posts are mainly images!
This week, the new Dell laptop came. It’s very, very quick, having an i7 processor and a solid-state drive rather than a hard-drive. What a contrast to the old (7 years) one.
The last two episodes of Modus on BBC4 confirmed the series to be a dreadful mess and a waste of 8 hours. However binging on Maltese: The Mafia Detective, on All4 was most satisfying. (binging or bingeing?)
Reading Skinny Dip by Carl Hiaasen was a terrific romp about a husband who throws his wife off a cruise liner on their wedding anniversary.
Needing extra motivation to visit the cinema more often, I became a member of the Curzon art-house cinema chain.
Snow is always a childish delight for me but its stay was all too short and there really wasn’t enough of it.
things change 