| unsolicited endorsement of Fanning's book [message #18586] |
Wed, 19 January 2000 00:00 |
raouldukey
Messages: 15
Registered: November 1999
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Junior Member |
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When I first started grad school, I was giving a programming
project, and handed a copy of IDL to do it in. Up to that
point, my programming experience was.....limited. I still
remember struggling with IDL to do a relatively simple task.
No one else in my department worked with IDL, so I was basically
on my own, with the helpful IDL user manual and reference guides
to guide me on my path of IDL enlightenment.
A couple of years later, and I am still struggling with IDL.
While my problems seem bigger, they all stem from the basic
problem of my never understanding the basic philosophy of IDL.
The user manual just never seemed to explain it to me, and just
seemed to have holes where the basic concepts should have been.
Perhaps the necessary information is there, and I just never
understood it. *shrug*
I decided to look around the web and see what resources were
available, and found the massive astronomy library of useful
routines. I then stumbled upon this newsgroup, which has been
very helpful (thanks everyone!), if answering me directly or when
I am just lurking. The most impressive part of the newsgroup
was this Fanning character, who seemed not to have a real job, as
he could spend his day answering everyone's questions.
Anyway, I checked out his site, and since most of his answers on
this newsgroup seemed helpful, I bought a copy of his book. Good
move on my part. I highly recommend this book, especially to people
like me that are still struggling with IDL and understanding why it
sometimes does what you want, and sometimes it does whatever the hell
it wants to do (Deterministic? ....yeah right). In the first
month of my owning the book, my IDL programming skills increased
by at least a factor of 3. Ok....I realize that 3 times a very small
number is still close to zero, but it makes me feel better. Anyway,
I figure that the book deserves at least a recommendation here. The
only way that I would have liked the book more is if I hadn't had to
pay for it.
Oh yea....I have never met David, and he didn't exchange anything
with me for this endorsement (although a free copy of the next edition
would be a nice gesture....)
Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Before you buy.
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