Using other's code not clueless (was IDL and WAVE: # and types of users?)

[Mitch Grunes <grunesm(at)sprynet.com>]

Joseph B. Gurman <gurman@gsfc.nasa.gov> wrote

>     I have no way of estimating what you really want, other
> than to note that we have IDL icenses numbered > 18000...

>     Of course, "users" is a broad term, including the cluesless
> using code developed by others.

IMnotHO, it is not clueless to user other people's code.

I think IDL and PV-WAVE would be more "serious" mainstream programming 
languages if the need to start them up were more transparent--i.e., if 
they could be more easily used to run utilities, without the utility 
user having to be aware of their presence.  (Even better if they didn't 
need an IDL or PV-WAVE license to run them, though I doubt that RSI and
VNI would see it that way.)

In a Unix environment it is more or less possible to set up environment
variables to make this sort of happen--but it is kind of kludgy, and
when
errors occur, you end up in the IDL or PV-WAVE environment.

Of course this is the perspective who frequently has to write code
for delivery to other users and organizations.