This is what I find everywhere, people tend to choose other alternatives (IDL, MatLab, even Python!!) before PDL. Even though PDL is probably the best option.
The question is how to overcome this? Maybe a simple introductory tutorial would help. Cheers, Xavier --- Karl Glazebrook <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> escribió: > Hi PDlers, > > The following appeared on one of our internal email > lists - our dept. > is hiring David Fanning to do an intro to IDL course > for astro > students here. > > I post it here because I thought points (1)-(3) > quite amusing. They > really have to waste time with that? > > Karl > > Begin forwarded message: > > > > > > > David Fanning's syllabus > > ------------------------ > > http://www.dfanning.com/documents/courses.html > > > > And here is a brief description of a seminar I did > last year for > > the astronomers at the European Southern > Observatory. This was > > well received. > > > > Topics for the Beginning Seminar: > > > > 1. Setting up your IDL session. How to get > colors, > > programs, and data organized for your work > environment. > > I will talk about PATHs, types of color > visual environments, > > and startup files. Find out why the code you > got from > > a colleague looks so lousy on your display. > (It is NOT > > because he/she is a lousy programmer!) How > can you save > > a record of your interactive IDL session? > > > > 2. How do colors work, anyway, in IDL!? Colors > look one > > way on your machine and another way on your > colleague's > > machine, and different again when you make a > PostScript > > file. How come? And isn't there a way to just > ask for > > a "green" or "yellow" line and get it? Find > out how to > > write a program where the colors look the > same everywhere. > > Why you really do want to use that 24-bit > display you paid > > so much money for. > > > > 3. Fifteen graphics keywords (out of hundreds) > that you absolutely > > must know to get nice looking graphics plots > in IDL. Why axes > > don't do what you tell them to do. Why plots > aren't where you > > want them in the window. How to put multiple > plots in windows > > and in PostScript output, and not have to > write the code twice > > (at least). Why positioning images doesn't > work the way > > everything > > else does, and what you can do about it. > > > > 4. A brief tour of some of the IDL resources > available to > > astronomers. > > Especially tools for interactive curve > fitting. How to select > > initial parameters. How to create and add > your own fitting > > models. > > How to prepare your data for using these > tools. Why error > > estimates > > are so important. > > > > 5. Five things you need to know to get more > productivity out of your > > time with IDL. When to use a main program, a > procedure, and a > > function. > > How to define and use keywords to get data > into and out of > > your programs. > > How to stop your program and examine > variables and values. How > > to get > > the program going again. Why this is SO much > better than > > always changing > > code itself. > > --------------------------end Fanning Syllabus > > > > _______________________________________________ > Perldl mailing list > [email protected] > http://mailman.jach.hawaii.edu/mailman/listinfo/perldl > ______________________________________________ LLama Gratis a cualquier PC del Mundo. Llamadas a fijos y móviles desde 1 céntimo por minuto. http://es.voice.yahoo.com _______________________________________________ Perldl mailing list [email protected] http://mailman.jach.hawaii.edu/mailman/listinfo/perldl
