| Re: Blogging the IDL User's Group Meeting [message #69915 is a reply to message #69913] |
Thu, 25 February 2010 06:42   |
David Fanning
Messages: 11724
Registered: August 2001
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Senior Member |
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Ben Tupper writes:
> Thanks for sharing the exciting details. Sounds like you are having
> fun and the the rest of us might have some soon, too!
For nearly 25 years, I have been trying to "fix" IDL,
either by writing programs that work the way I think
they should work, or by teaching people how to work
around IDL's shortcomings. I've grown old and cynical.
I really didn't expect to feel much different after
this week's User Group meeting. But I have to say that
what I have seen in the past two days is not only good
news for the casual IDL user, but is *great* news
for IDL developers.
I don't want to set expectations too high. This is
just the first release in a new direction, after all,
and I haven't really had a chance to play with the
code and understand how it all works together.
There are obvious pieces still missing. But this step
is just absolutely in the right direction. For me,
it provides tools that I can see myself using every
single day. That hasn't happened for a LONG time.
I said yesterday that one reason I haven't yet
written that 3rd Edition of my book is that it is
difficult to write while popping Prozac for
depression. If you don't see a future for the
software, why write about it? But this changes
everything. I can see myself writing with Happy
Thoughts once again. That, in itself, is
enormously comforting. :-)
Cheers,
David
P.S. The other thing cheering me up today is the
fact that I will no longer have to support
half the programs in the Coyote Library! Maybe
I can give Coyote the boot and hire that young
thing with the doe eyes to handle the lighter
load. :-)
--
David Fanning, Ph.D.
Fanning Software Consulting, Inc.
Coyote's Guide to IDL Programming: http://www.dfanning.com/
Sepore ma de ni thui. ("Perhaps thou speakest truth.")
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