What exactly does compiling a program accomplish? In a sense, a Fortran programmer speaks a different language than the computer, and the compiler is the translator. So when you compile the buffer, the program in the buffer is translated into machine language. When you run the compiled buffer, the translated program is executed by the machine. The machine knows nothing about Fortran, and you don't need to know anything about machine language.
The scenario described above is highly idealized. What might happen to prevent the compiler from smoothly translating your Fortran program into machine code?
Let's try an experiment. Go into the Emacs buffer that contains the example program and delete the word ``END'' from the end of the program. Now try compiling the buffer. What happens?
After you save the file, Emacs will proceed with compilation. What happens now?
Repair the damage that you inflicted on the sample program and verify that you can once again compile and run it. (Now's a good time to learn a useful feature of Emacs. To repair the damage, first be sure that the edit point is in the buffer containing the program. Then use the Undo option of the Edit menu. This will undo your last editing operation. Undo is a particularly useful thing when you make a mistake that deletes a large portion of your file. Remember it!)
Now it's time to get a glimpse of the possibilities inherent in programming. Find the line
PRINT *, 'Hello world'
in the sample program. Replace the word ``world'' with your name. (Be careful not to remove the quote mark at the end.) Now compile and run the program.
As you learn to program, you will learn to have greater and greater control over the computer. For a great many people, it is a thrill to cause a computer to behave in ever more complicated ways.
Hamlet Project