Re: Strange behavior on Unix

[anne <anne.martel(at)nottingham.ac.uk>]

Dave Brennan wrote:

> Hi,
>
> Has anyone notice strange behavior from IDL 5.3 on unix systems? (Apart
> from bad programming!)
>
> I have noticed 2 things.
>
> 1) When saving programs and then compiling them to run the compiler, on
> occasion, complains of syntax errors.
> When I check what the problem is, I find that strange characters appear
> within the code (often near where I have edited) that resemble r's in
> subscript. Why do these appear? When I delete them the code works fine
> again.
>

I have also had this problem on both Sun and SGI platforms and it's  driving
me nuts! Deleting the text and rewriting it doesn't always work so I've
wasted time chasing bugs I can't even see! I have just started to use idlde
instead of working from the old fashioned command promt but I'm beginning to
wonder if it's the right decision.

>
> 2) If I have run a program which has finished, and I now edit the
> program, the processor on my sun continues to run at 100%. This is only
> resolved by exiting IDL and restarting.
>
> These problems seem to have appeared only in IDL 5.3. Could it be
> related to the new colour editor now supplied with unix versions of IDL.
>

I'm not sure about the cause but I have also had to crash out of idlde
several times because it's running some unknown process.

> Hopefully, there will be enough unix users to convince Research Systems
> to repair the bugs. (Sorry I am still grumpy about the lack of unix
> GUI!)
>

Yes - it does seem unfair that the gui editor isn't available on unix
especially when unix users are paying significantly more for each license.

Anne M.