An engineer needs to know how to solve problems by using numerical techniques to solve Equations.
Today one can do that with:
- Excel Spreadhseet
- MatLab
- MathCAD
- Mathematica
- etc.
Or one can write a computer code to solve the equations using Java or FORTRAN or using a scripting language like Python.
FORTRAN stands for Formula Translation.
I took one FORTRAN programming course as a freshman in college, and graduate students used to come to me for help in the FORTRAN programs and my graduate thesis Included a compete Dynamic Nonlinear Finite Element code that I wrote in FORTRAN.