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Re: Introducing FL [message #48271 is a reply to message #48144]

Mon, 03 April 2006 13:29

JD Smith
Messages: 850
Registered: December 1999

Senior Member

> And finally, with this proliferation of "almost-IDL" clones (FL, IDL,
> ANA, Yorick), I have to wonder why everybody has to re-invent the
> wheel (see above). I see the GDL people meticulously toiling over
> basic functionality, and it makes me wonder: wouldn't it have been
> better to write an IDL-to-{Python,Ruby,Perl} translator, and get the
> existing well tested script environment for free? And not only that,
> but Python for science seem about to really take off. An infusion of
> well-tested IDL libraries into that community might be enough
> cross-fertilization to really get a non-proprietary version of an
> IDL-like language going strong.

Python has been set to "take off" in the astronomy field for about 8
years, and it just hasn't really happened. In my view, it's just
inertia. It took RSI 30 years to get to where they are, and they have
built up an impressively large (if ungainly and not exactly stylish)
bag of tricks. Since their recent emphasis has been in areas where
most astronomy people I know don't have too much interest (point and
click data exploration), things may change in the next 5 years. That
said, most people in this field are increasing their use of IDL now
(since prices have come down from quasi-unreasonable for the small
researcher).

JD

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[Message index]

		Introducing FL By: FL on Sat, 01 April 2006 06:44
		Re: Introducing FL By: FL on Thu, 06 April 2006 09:50
		Re: Introducing FL By: Maurizio Tomasi on Thu, 06 April 2006 00:14
		Re: Introducing FL By: George N. White III on Tue, 04 April 2006 16:28
		Re: Introducing FL By: JD Smith on Tue, 04 April 2006 12:38
		Re: Introducing FL By: Craig Markwardt on Tue, 04 April 2006 08:45
		Re: Introducing FL By: Craig Markwardt on Tue, 04 April 2006 08:41
		Re: Introducing FL By: FL on Tue, 04 April 2006 08:21
		Re: Introducing FL By: mmiller3 on Tue, 04 April 2006 08:16
		Re: Introducing FL By: mmiller3 on Tue, 04 April 2006 08:08
		Re: Introducing FL By: mmiller3 on Tue, 04 April 2006 08:07
		Re: Introducing FL By: Ken Mankoff on Tue, 04 April 2006 07:33
		Re: Introducing FL By: Michael Wallace on Tue, 04 April 2006 06:53
		Re: Introducing FL By: FL on Tue, 04 April 2006 06:22
		Re: Introducing FL By: Paul Van Delst[1] on Tue, 04 April 2006 05:23
		Re: Introducing FL By: Ben Panter on Tue, 04 April 2006 03:13
		Re: Introducing FL By: Y.T. on Mon, 03 April 2006 21:28
		Re: Introducing FL By: Richard French on Mon, 03 April 2006 20:51
		Re: Introducing FL By: Craig Markwardt on Mon, 03 April 2006 19:17
		Re: Introducing FL By: b_gom on Mon, 03 April 2006 14:59
		Re: Introducing FL By: JD Smith on Mon, 03 April 2006 13:29
		Re: Introducing FL By: Foldy Lajos on Mon, 03 April 2006 11:33
		Re: Introducing FL By: news.qwest.net on Mon, 03 April 2006 09:19
		Re: Introducing FL By: FL on Sun, 02 April 2006 12:33
		Re: Introducing FL By: biophys on Sun, 02 April 2006 12:31
		Re: Introducing FL By: biophys on Sun, 02 April 2006 12:15
		Re: Introducing FL By: Craig Markwardt on Sun, 02 April 2006 11:09

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