| IDL5.3 and documentation [message #15459] |
Tue, 18 May 1999 00:00  |
Richard G. French
Messages: 65
Registered: June 1997
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Member |
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With his permission, I am posting RSI's Mark Goosman's answer to some
questions I posted on this newsgroup recently. He also provided the
following information about the next release of IDL:
IDL 5.3 is scheduled for October 99.
Mark's message:
I wanted to give you a response to the wishlist you posted recently to
the
newsgroup comp.lang.idl-pv-wave. I'm the IDL/ION Product Manager. In
your
list, you had some very good comments and I wanted to make sure you
recieved
a response to each of the issues. If you have comments or questions on
these
or any other issues, please let me know.
1) Enable help to be read using NETSCAPE.
Research Systems makes every effort to make the online documentation as
convenient and easy to use as possible. To this end, we distribute our
documentation
in the most widely accepted manner in the software industry. Online
documentation is
distributed in Adobe Acrobat format (.PDF). This allows better document
handling as well as
being more efficient with disk space.
Prior to the IDL 5.2 release, we did make an effort to include an HTML
version of the IDL
documentation. In addition to taking up almost 30% of the total file
space,
it created a third
method of distributing IDL documentation (Original FrameMaker files,
Adobe
Acrobat, and
HTML). This is in addition to the platform specific on-line help. The
decision was made to
eliminate the HTML files and concentrate on the overall quality of the
documentation in PDF format.
2) Make sure that ALL the keywords for all procedures are documented. It
is hard to know if undocumented keywords are in the category of "Don't
use this since we reserve the right to change it" or are simply left out
because no one updated the documentation.
In most cases, we do attempt to completely document IDL routines and all
their
keywords. In some cases, there may be issues with the functionality
associated with
a keyword. If the keyword either does not work as it should or is
replace by
other
functionality, it may not be the best decision to continue support for
that
particular keyword.
by removing references to it in the documentation but leaving the
existing
functionality, we maintain
backward compatibility.
In the IDL 5.3 release you will see major improvements to the
documentation
set which reflects our
commitment to improving the quality and value of IDL. If their are
specific
omissions we should
correct please let us know and I will ensure these are addressed. Thank
you
for your interest and attention to IDL!
3) Math routines that work! In the version of CURVEFIT that was
distributed a couple of years ago, there were so many serious errors
that I had to hack the code all over the place to get it to compute the
parameter errors properly. Just saw the posting on the SVDFIT routine
which also seems to have bugs. I love IDL, but I must admit that I have
gotten to the point where I don't even trust that it computes Bessel
functions properly without doing some cross-checks with other programs.
We are working to improve the quality of every functional area of IDL.
The
past couple of releases
saw an incredible amount of attention to IDL's visual capabilities with
Object Graphics, a wide array of
new data formats, enhancements to the language to support several new
data
types (16 bit
signed/unsigned and 64 bit signed and unsigned), support for very large
files (> 2 Gb) on many
systems, and a whole new development environment. Hopefully, you've
reported
any errors you find in
any of the analysis routines so that they can be entered in to our
defect
tracking system.
4) Has someone found a real manual for the GUI builder? If so, I'd love
to read it! I've tried to track it down in the Help menu but just have
not been able to navigate to a manual that actually shows you how to use
the thing, rather than simply telling you that it exists.
The IDL GUIBuilder does not have a stand-alone manual. As a part of the
IDL
Development
Environment, it is documented with the other features of the IDLDE. As
it
was introduced in the IDL
5.2 release, it is currently documented in the "What's New in IDL 5.2"
manual. With the IDL 5.3
release, we will be reorganizing and greatly enhancing most of the IDL
manuals. At this time, we will
be moving the documentation for the IDL GUIBuilder into the "Building
IDL
Applications" manual.
5)I would LOVE to have as easy reference for each function a history
list of what changes were made in what version of IDL. I know this is
asking for too much, but it sure would help when trying to figure out
why things that used to work don't work any more!
Each IDL release includes a "What's New ..." manual to describe any
changes
to IDL. As
far as figuring out why things used to work but don't work any more, we
do
make every effort to make
IDL 100% backward compatible. With everything we do, one major goal is
to
make sure that existing
customers have the best impression of each new IDL release. We do,
however,
have situations where
behavior does change between releases. Many times, specific behavior may
indicate a problem that
is fixed in a later release of IDL. This may cause applications that
were
written
depending on the errant behavior, to behave differently.
6)The old DEMO routines in the old days actually did simple things like
draw plots of sine waves in black and white - the kind of thing that a
beginning user would like to know how to do. I used to be able to have
my students learn IDL by running the DEMO and then looking at the code
that produced it. This is no longer possible. The demo is so
high-powered that it is impossible for beginning IDL users to use it as
a way of learning how to program in IDL. I think this is a real loss.
I learned IDL by looking over someone's shoulder and by reading through
programs that did close to what I wanted to do myself.
We are trying to address the needs of the new IDL user. Part of this is
identifying the best tools to
help a user get started as well as understanding the purpose of the IDL
Demo
system. In the past,
the best way to learn IDL was to reverse-engineer the demo system.
Unfortunately, IDL now has
widgets, objects, object graphics, ActiveX Control, etc. With all of
this
new functionality, we have
come to realize that we need a better way to get someone started using
IDL.
Part of the IDL 5.3
release will be a new IDL Getting Started manual. This should address
the
concern you mentioned
over how someone learns the basics of IDL. We are also re-releasing the
IDL
HandiGuide. This is
going to be a major improvement over the previous IDL HandiGuide in that
it
lists each routine as well
as all parameters and keywords.
Again, if you have questions on any of these issues or anything else,
please
do not hesitate to let me know.
Best regards,
Mark Goosman
********************************************
Mark Goosman
IDL/ION Product Manager
Research Systems, Inc.
4990 Pearl East Circle
Boulder, CO 80301 USA
Tel: 303-413-3966
Fax: 303-786-9909
Email: mgoosman@rsinc.com
WWW: http://www.rsinc.com
*************************************
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| Re: IDL5.3 and documentation [message #15525 is a reply to message #15459] |
Mon, 24 May 1999 00:00  |
Paul van Delst
Messages: 364
Registered: March 1997
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Senior Member |
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robert.m.candey.1@gsfc.nasa.gov wrote:
> In article <374224BB.CD038933@wellesley.edu>, rfrench@mediaone.net wrote:
>
>> With his permission, I am posting RSI's Mark Goosman's answer to some
>> questions I posted on this newsgroup recently. He also provided the
>> following information about the next release of IDL:
>>
>> IDL 5.3 is scheduled for October 99.
>>
>> Mark's message:
<snip>
>> Prior to the IDL 5.2 release, we did make an effort to include an HTML
>> version of the IDL documentation. In addition to taking up almost 30% of
>> the total file space, it created a third method of distributing IDL
>> documentation (Original FrameMaker files, Adobe Acrobat, and HTML).
>> This is in addition to the platform specific on-line help. The decision was
>> made to eliminate the HTML files and concentrate on the overall quality of the
>> documentation in PDF format.
>> . . .
Can't resist replying....
For me, improving the quality of the documentation is the ultimate goal. The
second (debatable...should be first?) should be the ease with which information is
retrieved from the on-line doc's. The format that it is in is beyond secondary.
The fact that RSI is paying attention to file space when considering the options
is a good sign. I like documentation to be as comprehensive as the next fella, but
30% of the IDL distribution?
If one were keen to add in their own local routine doc's in line, why should it
matter whether it's HTML or clickable PDF/PS? I don't see why creating any of
these formats is particularly difficult. A WYSIWUG gui to write the documentation
(taken, of course, from the procedure or function prologue) and output the result
in a form that the IDL Online help reader understands
cheers,
paulv
p.s. 2 posts in one morning....I gotta cut back on coffee. Sheesh.
--
Paul van Delst
Space Science and Engineering Center | Ph/Fax: (608) 265-5357, 262-5974
University of Wisconsin-Madison | Email: paul.vandelst@ssec.wisc.edu
1225 W. Dayton St., Madison WI 53706 | Web: http://airs2.ssec.wisc.edu/~paulv
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| Re: IDL5.3 and documentation [message #15532 is a reply to message #15459] |
Fri, 21 May 1999 00:00 |
robert.m.candey.1[2]
Messages: 11
Registered: May 1999
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Junior Member |
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In article <374224BB.CD038933@wellesley.edu>, rfrench@mediaone.net wrote:
> With his permission, I am posting RSI's Mark Goosman's answer to some
> questions I posted on this newsgroup recently. He also provided the
> following information about the next release of IDL:
>
> IDL 5.3 is scheduled for October 99.
>
> Mark's message:
>
> I wanted to give you a response to the wishlist you posted recently to the
> newsgroup comp.lang.idl-pv-wave. I'm the IDL/ION Product Manager. In your
> list, you had some very good comments and I wanted to make sure you recieved
> a response to each of the issues. If you have comments or questions on these
> or any other issues, please let me know.
>
>> 1) Enable help to be read using NETSCAPE.
>
> Research Systems makes every effort to make the online documentation as
> convenient and easy to use as possible. To this end, we distribute our
> documentation in the most widely accepted manner in the software industry.
> Online documentation is distributed in Adobe Acrobat format (.PDF). This
allows
> better document handling as well as being more efficient with disk space.
>
> Prior to the IDL 5.2 release, we did make an effort to include an HTML
> version of the IDL documentation. In addition to taking up almost 30% of
> the total file space, it created a third method of distributing IDL
> documentation (Original FrameMaker files, Adobe Acrobat, and HTML).
> This is in addition to the platform specific on-line help. The decision was
> made to eliminate the HTML files and concentrate on the overall quality of the
> documentation in PDF format.
> . . .
My vote is to use only HTML (and eventually XML) for documentation in
place of 3 of those 4 formats (and especially the platform-specific help
format). Surely all users have a browser that can be used to read the
documentation and it allows us to add local docs as well. Images perhaps
should be in PNG format. This will allow easy changing of font size and
other display features to meet various needs and provides a ready format
for searching. It also allows tie-ins with web-based tutorials and would
allow us to point to features as URLs in this group. I'd asked for HTML
for awhile and am distressed it is going away.
--
Robert.M.Candey@gsfc.nasa.gov 1-301-286-6707 (286-1771 fax)
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Code 632
Greenbelt MD 20771 USA <http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/personnel/rcandey/>
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