| Re: IDL 7.0 .... any new functions? [message #57075 is a reply to message #56986] |
Fri, 30 November 2007 01:30   |
proffmw@gmail.com
Messages: 3
Registered: November 2007
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Junior Member |
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On Nov 29, 9:39 am, Kenneth Bowman <k-bow...@tamu.edu> wrote:
> In article <MPG.21b7a6c03145300d98a...@news.frii.com>,
> David Fanning <n...@dfanning.com> wrote:
>
>
>
>> Note to Ken Bowman: I heard that 24-bit PostScript
>> support is VERY high on the *next* list.
>
> I swoon at the thought!
>
> Ken
So IDL 7.0 is out.
I have to admit that I don't look forward to new versions of IDL
anymore.
Version 2 made major strides; versions 3 did so too. Versions 4 and 5
added a few nice procedures/functions. I'm not sure that there's
anything
new in version 6 that I actually use.
But then again, I suppose I'm a bit of a dinosaur. I started using IDL
in 1981
(before versions???, but after SOL, when IDL ran on microVaxes). The
only
revolutionary things I've found at all useful are structures and
pointers.
I've never used object graphics. I've written one widget, and decided
it wasn't worth the effort. Widgets aren't any good
when you're constantly tinkering with the code - and my code (anything
longer
than about 10 lines) is never finished. I dislike IDLDE (I use Windows
only
under protest).
The IDL astronomy users library and the MPFIT routines are extremely
useful, but of course they come from users, and not ITT.
I'm a working scientist. I program what I need when I need it. I have
lots of
procedures that IDL got around to supplying after I'd written them
(it's a
pain when IDL decides to usurp one of my old routine names).
The machines I have scattered around the lab run versions 5.6 through
6.3.
Upgrading them means taking a major fraction of a day off to do it
(including
debugging all the paths). I upgrade when I get a new machine. So why
do I
keep maintenance? It's cheap (on an academic price plan), and lets me
upgrade
my workstations and laptops!
From a cold mountaintop, on a cold night,
Cheers,
Fred
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