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Re: Hello again, and iTools [message #52886 is a reply to message #52882] Thu, 08 March 2007 06:50 Go to previous message
David Fanning is currently offline  David Fanning
Messages: 11724
Registered: August 2001
Senior Member
Struan writes:

> It's been a while, but I have recently started programming in IDL
> again. Great to see some old names still posting here, and the new
> ones too.

Hi Struan, nice to see you back here again. :-)

> Naturally I wish to save time, effort and frustration...
> but now I feel the siren call of iTools and I am wondering if I should
> swim to land or stuff my ears with parsley?

Programming iTools is generally not included in the same
thought process that considers saving time, effort, and
frustration as a goal, in my humble experience. :-)

Rather, for me, programming iTools is about the most
complicated, complex, and maddening endeavor I've ever
encountered with IDL. I've mostly given it up as a lost
cause because I've come to the conclusion it is not possible
to learn this system from the current documentation. A direct
connection to someone at ITTVIS is also required, it seems to me.
But, of course, I've been known to get things wrong and maybe
complicated systems are beyond my abilities now. Who knows? I
offer as contrary evidence the fact that my tennis game is still
improving, and that's a pretty complicated system.

> In short: are the iTools stable, usable and extendable enough to make
> it worth my while to learn the whole application framework?

Oddly enough I was having this conversation just yesterday
with someone in a position to know something about iTools.
I was curious about possibly writing a book about the darn
things, mostly motivated by two observations: ITTVIS seems
committed to them and no one I know uses them. I thought there
might be an entrepreneurial opportunity lurking somewhere in there.

But I've put the idea on the back shelf. It seems a great deal
is changing with IDL, mostly to accommodate an anticipated move
to a new IDLDE sometime in the future. And iTools, which even
ITTVIS recognizes are too complicated for most customers, are
receiving extra scrutiny. In short, no one currently knows what
the landscape is going to look like a year or two from now.
That's too much risk for me.

I think with the amount of time and money that has been spent
on them that iTools, or something very like them, will exist
for a long time. But exactly what form they will take is WAY
beyond my ability to predict. Presumably software written today
will work well into the future. That has always been ITTVIS's
commitment and I don't doubt it will be true of iTools, too.

And on the bright side, if you start today it's possible
you might be able to explain iTools to me when I finally get
around to writing that book. ;-)

Cheers,

David
--
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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