Messages from Usenet group comp.lang.idl-pvwave, compiled by Paulo Penteado
Re: Looking for general purpose image display.
Dyer Lytle <dlytle@as.arizona.edu> writes: > I'm about to write a general purpose image display widget in IDL > similar in functionality to SAOimage. I figure something like > that may already have been written in IDL so I thought it best to > query this newsgroup before I re-invent the wheel. > > Any leads on a general image display program? I don't know what SAOimage does, but I do know there is a lot of code out and about that can help build something like this. Many of the programs on my web page were designed to show someone how to build an application like this. (My original goal was to teach people how to build the poor man's ENVI, if you want to know the truth.) Ray Sterner has some great programs on his Johns Hopkins APL site. Be sure to have a look at XDISPLAY by Phil Williams before you go messing around with ROI functionality. Phil probably has exactly what you want. You can find other links to great software on my web page. To get off the main subject for a moment, this whole idea of people writing and sharing generally useful programs with each other interests me. I have had several conversations in the past few weeks with "independent" IDL programmers who manage to make a living (a *meager* living for those of you who think this life may be for you!) nibbling around the edges of RSI's business. About the only thing we have in common is a low tolerance for office politics and the idea that we can write damn good IDL programs. Some of these friends of mine stay up half the night after they put the kids to bed writing IDL programs because they *like* to! And here is the thing: they could probably be persuaded to neglect their health and family life even more if they could just get *paid* for what they do. Not much. I'm not talking huge goverment salaries here, now. :-) But a little. Something to make it worthwhile to them. What I have been thinking about is a sort of IDL Programmers Clearing House or Cooperative. Something a step or two above the User Contributed Library that comes with IDL. Maybe with some kind of enforced programming and documentation standards. Perhaps with some kind of modest guarantee of support and help to go along with the programs. The question, of course, is how do the contributors get paid? I've been thinking along the lines of a shareware model, where each program like the image display widget Dyer is talking about would cost on the order of $25-$30. Would you pay for it? Would you pay more? Less? Would you steal it and give it away to your colleagues? Would you pay $200 for the Deluxe version? I'm curious to know how this would be received in the larger IDL community. I do think it would make better programs available to all of us and I think it would help new users get work done much faster. As we move into the IDL 5.0 world, programs are going to become a lot more powerful, but they are also going to require a lot more effort to write. It would be nice if all of us didn't have to continually reinvent the wheel. I'd like to hear your thoughts. Cheers! David ---------------------------------------------------------- David Fanning, Ph.D. Fanning Software Consulting Customizable IDL Programming Courses Phone: 970-221-0438 E-Mail: davidf@dfanning.com Coyote's Guide to IDL Programming: http://www.dfanning.com
In article <davidf-ya023080001505972054160001@news.frii.com>, davidf@dfanning.com (David Fanning) wrote: > About the only thing we have in common is a low tolerance > for office politics and the idea that we can write damn good > IDL programs. Some of these friends of mine stay up half the > night after they put the kids to bed writing IDL programs > because they *like* to! And here is the thing: they could > probably be persuaded to neglect their health and family life > even more if they could just get *paid* for what they do. Hi David - I don't remember giving you rights to my life story. A year of 100 hour work weeks plays havoc with family life (try to remember when you had a life). > Not much. I'm not talking huge goverment salaries here, now. :-) > But a little. Something to make it worthwhile to them. I'm still trying to settle down after the "Huge Government salary" line. Going from my meager living last year as a self-employed IDL programmer to a nice government job only cost me a 50% cut in pay! The ideal life for me would involve a cabin in Montana (kinda like the Unabomber's) where someone would slide an envelope of cash under the doorway every month and I'd blister a modem churning out code for them. If someone wanted to set me up in a place like the picture on Page 28 of Log Homes Illustrated '97 Annual Buyer's Directory, I'd blister an ATM line. > What I have been thinking about is a sort of IDL Programmers > Clearing House or Cooperative. Something a step or two above > the User Contributed Library that comes with IDL. Maybe with > some kind of enforced programming and documentation standards. > Perhaps with some kind of modest guarantee of support and help > to go along with the programs. I think it's a great idea. I wrote a PV-WAVE programming standard at my last contract. No reason it couldn't be converted over to an IDL standard that a group could live with. I've also grabbed several User Contributed programs and used them directly or ported them to PV-WAVE or enhanced them beyond the original intent. No doubt in my mind I would pay for the starting point they provided. The tougher part would be to get an employer to petty cash something along those lines. > The question, of course, is how do the contributors get paid? I've been > thinking along the lines of a shareware model, where each program > like the image display widget Dyer is talking about would cost on the > order of $25-$30. Would you pay for it? Would you pay more? > Less? Would you steal it and give it away to your colleagues? > Would you pay $200 for the Deluxe version? As you allude to on many occasions in this newsgroup it would be nice to get paid for your efforts, especially when you take time away from family and efforts that are paying, to help out a fellow programmer. I used to be very prolific on this newsgroup, but had to leave the newsgroups alone when things got too hectic last year with my small business. Your priorities have to be adjustable. I wrote a few freeware programs for the comp.unix.shell newsgroup a few years back. Support for freeware can take quite a bit of time, especially when it's for UNIX. > I'm curious to know how this would be received in the larger IDL > community. I do think it would make better programs available > to all of us and I think it would help new users get work done > much faster. As we move into the IDL 5.0 world, programs > are going to become a lot more powerful, but they are also > going to require a lot more effort to write. It would be nice > if all of us didn't have to continually reinvent the wheel. Exactly. OOP means less work after a long time, but more work in the initial planning stages and certainly when a language changes to support a new model. There will be a lot of new programs/modules showing up as the interest in OOP for IDL increases. Maybe this is an opportunity to mention that Ray Sterner has passed the IDL FAQ on to me. I'll be updating and posting it some time next week. It will also have a new home on my web site temporarily and perhaps a government site in the very near future. > David Regards, -- Mike Schienle Interactive Visuals mgs@sd.cybernex.net http://ww2.sd.cybernex.net/~mgs/
I very much like David Fannings suggestion of an IDL programmers cooperative writing shareware code. I know that I would pay for good routines (and David's routines are good). The only comment that I would make, being part of a Government research organisation, is that it would be great if there was an easy way to pay, for example by credit card. I think that more people will pay for shareware if it is easy to do so. Regards, Paul. ----- Paul Tildesley/CSIRO Division of Marine Research/Paul.Tildesley@marine.csiro.au
Dyer Lytle wrote: > > Hi all, > > I'm about to write a general purpose image display widget in IDL > similar in functionality to SAOimage. I figure something like > that may already have been written in IDL so I thought it best to > query this newsgroup before I re-invent the wheel. > > Any leads on a general image display program? > > Many thanks, > > -Dyer > > -- > ------------------------------ > Dyer Lytle > dlytle@as.arizona.edu > http://tigger.as.arizona.edu/~dlytle > HST NICMOS Project > Steward Observatory > University of Arizona > ------------------------------ I simply use the following: PRO Sao, image, verbose=verbose On_Error, 2 ; return to the caller of the function IF ( N_params() NE 1 ) THEN message, 'Syntax - sao, image, [/verbose]' imsize = size(image) IF ((imsize(0) GT 2) OR (imsize(0) EQ 0)) THEN BEGIN message, 'Image does not have the correct dimension' ENDIF IF (imsize(0) EQ 1) THEN BEGIN image = reform(image,sqrt(imsize(1)),sqrt(imsize(1))) ENDIF options='' IF n_elements(verbose) NE 0 THEN BEGIN options=options+' +v' back='' ENDIF ELSE BEGIN options=options+' -v' back=' &' ENDELSE writefits, 'saotmp.fits', image spawn, '(saoimage'+options+' -ll -zero -fits saotmp.fits; rm -f saotmp.fits 2>/dev/null)'+back END -- Michel Tallon CRAL, Observatoire de Lyon mtallon@obs.univ-lyon1.fr 69561 Saint-Genis-Laval cedex http://www-obs.univ-lyon1.fr/ France
On Thu, 15 May 1997, Dyer Lytle wrote: > I'm about to write a general purpose image display widget in IDL > similar in functionality to SAOimage. I figure something like Why do you want to do that ? SAOimage is perfectly fine as it is, and is a standalone, free tool. Does not require licenses, is quite small and precompiled ... > query this newsgroup before I re-invent the wheel. Although I quite like reinventing wheels :-) particularly when it involves inventing new stainless steel wheels for cars, or small plastic wheels for trolleys instead of wooden ox-cart wheels, if you follow my metaphore, I do not see much the case here : I actually use essentially three families of programs : - my own Fortran programs for "production" analysis, and also for some quick look display of data (a little Xlib-based set, mainly plots, although can do images as well) - although I have my image display capabilities, I prefer SAOimage for quick look display of images _ I use IDL (as a language, with little pieces of code I keep in scratchpad files, not necessarily always full-fledged .pro files) mainly for : - testing preliminary algorithms before doing the final coding in Fortran - doing "one off" massaging to data - doing publication-quality plots (this includes plotting images in more-or-less fancy ways which would be too costly to reprogram, like contour or isometric plots ; it also includes some greyscale or colour display of images in ps files, although I'm quite unsatisfied of the way IDL handles this) Of course this does not mean YOU may not have valid reasons of your own to do what you plan. ------------------------------------------------------------ ---------------- Lucio Chiappetti - IFCTR/CNR - via Bassini 15 - I-20133 Milano (Italy) ------------------------------------------------------------ ---------------- Fuscim donca de Miragn E tornem a sta scio' in Bregn Che i fachign e i cortesagn Magl' insema no stagn begn Drizza la', compa' Tapogn (Rabisch, II 41, 96-99) ------------------------------------------------------------ ---------------- For more info : http://www.ifctr.mi.cnr.it/~lucio/personal.html ------------------------------------------------------------ ----------------