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ANNOUNCE: perlDL v1.00 - the 'perl Data Language'
- Subject: ANNOUNCE: perlDL v1.00 - the 'perl Data Language'
- From: kgb(at)jach.hawaii.edu (Karl Glazebrook)
- Date: 23 Oct 1996 16:26:29 GMT
- Approved: merlyn@stonehenge.com (comp.lang.perl.announce)
- Followup-To: comp.lang.perl.misc
- Newsgroups: comp.lang.perl.announce,comp.lang.perl.misc
- Organization: UK/Canada/Netherlands Joint Astronomy Centre, Hilo, Hawaii
- Xref: news.doit.wisc.edu comp.lang.perl.announce:417 comp.lang.perl.misc:43211
`perlDL' ("perl Data Language") gives standard perl the ability
to COMPACTLY store and SPEEDILY manipulate the large N-
dimensional data arrays which are the bread and butter of
scientific computing.
The idea is to turn perl in to a, free, array-oriented,
numerical language in the same sense as commerical packages like
IDL and MatLab. One can write simple perl expressions to
manipulate entire numerical arrays all at once.
For example with `perlDL' the perl variable `$a' can hold a
1024x1024 floating point image, it only takes 4Mb of memory to
store it and expressions like `$a=sqrt($a)+2' would manipulate
the whole image in a few seconds.
A simple interactive shell ("`perldl'") is provided for command
line use together with a module ("`PDL'") for use in perl
scripts.
v1.00 is the first official alpha release. It provides the
fundumental numerical processing facilities and a limited set of
standard functions. Graphics are supported via the perl PGPLOT
module and image display via the external programs
saoimage/ximtool. The goal is to allow perlDL to interact with a
variety of external graphics systems. I/O is currently supported
via the FITS standard, though given the simple design it ought
to be possible to create perl code to read many common formats.
There are of course many things missing from this first release
but it is hoped that perlDL will grow through efforts of
interested users. It has a modular design to encourage this.
Where to obtain perlDL:
Home Site:
WWW: http://www.aao.gov.au/local/www/kgb/perldl/
ftp: ftp://ftp.aao.gov.au/pub/perldl/
Comprehensive Perl Archive Network (CPAN):
ftp: In directory modules/by-module/PDL/
WWW: You can automatically select your LOCAL CPAN site by going
to: http://www.perl.com/CPAN/modules/by-module/PDL/
The PGPLOT module is available from (among others):
http://www.ast.cam.ac.uk/~kgb/pgperl.html (Home Page/General
information)
http://www.perl.com/CPAN/modules/by-module/PGPLOT/
ftp://ftp.ast.cam.ac.uk/pub/kgb/pgperl/
ftp://ftp.aao.gov.au/pub/pgperl/
SAOimage is available from:
http://tdc-www.harvard.edu/software/saoimage.html
Documentation
The current perlDL documentation is available from
http://www.aao.gov.au/local/www/kgb/perldl/PDL.html
Mailing List
Finally, a mailing list has been set up to talk about perlDL and
for developers to coordinate their work.
The address of the list is perldl@jach.hawaii.edu. To subscribe,
send a message to perldl-request@jach.hawaii.edu containing a
string in the following format:
subscribe me@my.email.address
I hope you find perlDL useful and enjoyable,
Karl Glazebrook. email: kgb@aaoepp.aao.gov.au