Designed for GFortran

Simply Fortran has been designed from the start with GFortran integration as the primary goal. The Simply Fortran development environment has been tested using the powerful, open-source Fortran compiler and its related GNU tools. The widely used open-source compiler and toolset have been packaged for Microsoft Windows and compatible operating systems, and the Simply Fortran IDE provides a comfortable tool for Windows developers, mathematicians, and scientists.

Insight Debugger

Simply Fortran ships and integrates with the Insight Debugger, a graphical front end to the GNU Debugger, GDB. Insight provides a graphical user interface for debugging Fortran programs and projects, and it is available immediately from the Simply Fortran menus or toolbar. Features within Insight are extensive, including a range of breakpoints, stack tracing, thread monitoring, and watch expressions. Code compiled with GFortran using the debug flag is understood by Insight, and Fortran types can be inspected seamlessly within the debugger. The Insight Debugger is a powerful tool for professional Fortran developers.

Advanced Editing

The Simply Fortran environment integrates the Scintilla editing component, which provides advanced features for editing Fortran source code. Simply Fortran's implementation includes the following features:

• Fortran Syntax Checking - processes the editor contents as you work, immediately highlighting Fortran syntax warnings and errors
• Syntax Higlighting - for easily identifying keywords, comments, etc. in multiple languages
• Fortran Intrinsics Call Tips - providing real-time assistance when entering a procedure or function intrinsic to the Fortran standard
• Code Autocompletion - assisting in accessing members of derived types and inclusion of project modules into any program element
• Source Code Outline - allowing rapid navigation of large files via a structured outline of the source code
• Folding - to expand and contract loops, conditionals, subroutines, functions, and modules
• Automated Commenting - to rapidly comment or uncomment blocks of code
• Text Search and Replace - for searching a single file, incorporating regular expressions for power users
• Tabbed Layout - to allow easy switching between source files
• Solid Legacy Support - for editing fixed format FORTRAN in a sensible, productive manner

The editor is incorporated directly within the development environment alongside the project management pane. Other editing features professional developers expect are also present, including cut/copy/paste functionality, jumping to line numbers, right margin guides, and configurable indentation.

Project Management

Projects in Simply Fortran are easy to configure and manage using the project management pane. Simply Fortran supports arbitrary project organization, separating the project view from the file system layout. Fortran code pertaining to similar project components can be organized into folders and subfolders together regardless of their location on the file system. The logical organization can improve productivity for users without complicating file system arrangement.

Source code files inserted into the project are indexed in the background to provide rapid, code-specific searches. Fortran modules, programs, subroutines, functions, and interfaces can all be searched for throughout the project by name and element type. Additionally, project files written in other programming languages, including C and Python, are indexed for searching as well. A module-specific navigation window allows for rapid movement between modules within complex projects.

Furthermore, Simply Fortran handles complicated Fortran dependencies. Indexes of module interdependencies are maintained by the IDE, and the generated makefile used for building a project automatically is properly configured to ensure all modules are built in the proper order.

While the integrated development environment has been developed specifically with Fortran in mind, libraries and C source code can also be integrated into projects. Unlike more complex development environments, adding a library, an object, or a C source file into a Simply Fortran project is as simple as including the file in the project tree. Additional flags are entirely unnecessary.