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Re: IDL to C translator [message #11408 is a reply to message #11391]

Tue, 07 April 1998 00:00

Liam Gumley
Messages: 473
Registered: November 1994

Senior Member

Axel Schweiger wrote:
> Here are some very good reasons why an IDL -> C/Fortran translator (or a IDL
> compiler ) would make sense:
> 1) IDL can be extremely slow if your code/algorithm requires you to loop over
> an array. I don't think a lot of people are coding applications where speed is an issue in IDL.

IMHO if loops are slowing down your IDL program, then your IDL program
isn't designed properly. A much more effective way of speeding up your
application would be to spend some removing the loops from the IDL code.
This could be done in a much shorter time than recoding and testing the
whole program in FORTRAN or C. One of the key steps on the way to
becoming effective IDL programmer is learning to think in IDL (rather
than FORTRAN or C).

A couple of related principles:
- You can write bad FORTRAN in any language,
- A bad design is still bad whether it's coded in IDL or C or FORTRAN.

> 2) Not everybody has IDL and you may want to share an application.
> BTW: Matlab has a matlab -> C translator. I suspect for the above reasons.

Surely if your application is brilliantly implemented in IDL, then
anyone that wants to use it will fall over themselves in the rush to buy
an IDL license.

But seriously, I know it's often assumed that porting to a different
language will fix all the evils in your code. Does any of the following
sound familiar?
"Let's convert all our FORTRAN to C, because C is more portable", or
"Let's convert all our C to C++, because it's object oriented", or
"Let's convert all our C++ to Java, because it's platform independent".
The truth is, if your IDL code works, then you ought to get on with
using it to do something useful. Don't waste a bunch of time and money
converting it to another language because of some poorly defined
benefits.

I feel much better now.

Cheers,
Liam.

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[Message index]

		Re: IDL to C translator By: davis on Thu, 09 April 1998 00:00
		Re: IDL to C translator By: David Fenyes on Wed, 08 April 1998 00:00
		Re: IDL to C translator By: Liam Gumley on Wed, 08 April 1998 00:00
		Re: IDL to C translator By: Liam Gumley on Wed, 08 April 1998 00:00
		Re: IDL to C translator By: Pedro J. Claudio on Wed, 08 April 1998 00:00
		Re: IDL to C translator By: Ebeth Jones on Wed, 08 April 1998 00:00
		Re: IDL to C translator By: Liam Gumley on Tue, 07 April 1998 00:00
		Re: IDL to C translator By: Axel Schweiger on Tue, 07 April 1998 00:00
		Re: IDL to C translator By: Liam Gumley on Tue, 07 April 1998 00:00

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