Language Converters (was: (none) really was: FORTRAN => C Converters)

[Liber]

[followups to comp.lang.misc]

In article <8808091347.aa14145 at SMOKE.BRL.MIL> PHY6JEM at CMS1.UCS.LEEDS.AC.UK writes:

>At the same time I would like to convert [a FORTRAN program] to C which
>would make it a bit easier to maintain.

Do language converters really make a program easier to maintain?  Although a
language converter might make allow a program to run under more
environments, I tend to think that the program becomes harder to
maintain.  The writing style (indentation, etc.), comments, variable
names, etc. would probably get lost in the translation.  Also, a typical
FORTRAN program (for example) simply translated to C would still look
like a typical FORTRAN program, not a typical C program.

Has someone used a language converter and found contradictions to my
intuition?
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