Re: a plea for more reliable mathematical routines

[FIT <fruncan(at)zedat.fu-berlin.de>]

Hi,

so let us discuss strategies to migrate from IDL to something reasonable
(almost everything without common blocks and childish attempts to be object
oriented).

Arno

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..
>
> 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
> > years. If RSI wants
> > to make inroads into the serious scientific computing arena, they will
> > have to hire some
> > mathematicians who will take the time and care to make sure that the
> > mathematical functions
> > really are properly handled. Otherwise, folks will head off to MATLAB
> or
> > Fortran (gasp!) or
> > other languages where you can count on getting a Bessel function when
> > you call a Bessel
> > function, or get a random number when you want one. I for one would
> > prefer that RSI
> > consolidate their current program structure and shore up the
> > computational and mathematical
> > functions to be competitive with other programs.
> >
> > Dick French
> >
>
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