Re: a plea for more reliable mathematical routines

[williamm(at)sopris.net (MDW)]

In article <7r9jbl$aem$1@nnrp1.deja.com>, ushomirs@my-deja.com wrote:

> yeah, if i weren't ``hooked'' on IDL because of having been using
> it for many years doing data manipulation and stuff,
> i'd ditch it in favor of matlab or python.  sigh, habits die hard..

Well, if you are "hooked" on IDL and want more robust mathematics,
you might want to take a look at PV-WAVE. PV-WAVE uses the IMSL
Math and Statistics libraries for its numerics (since Visual Numerics
is the company formed by the merger of IMSL and Precision Visuals,
VNI owns these algorithms), and PV-WAVE is essentially the same
language as IDL. IMSL algorithms are robust and accurate.

The up and coming version of PV-WAVE (version 7.0) has updated
IMSL routines, including some nice features like sparse matrix
support, statistical forecasting (time series), and others. I
think VNI is planning an October release.

--MDW

> 
> In article <37D82EA9.BA62A369@wellesley.edu>,
>   rfrench@mediaone.net wrote:
> 
> > I have the same uneasiness about the implementation of mathematics
> > routines in IDL, having
> > found some simple errors in things like CURVEFIT over the past few