Re: Top 10 IDL Requests

[Eric Vella <eric.vella(at)kla-tencor.com>]

   Here's a more ambitious request, which I don't expect RSI to
consider, but what the heck: Rewrite IDL as a Perl module.  The IDL
syntax is really annoying, with all sorts of hard to remember quirks and
strange behavior everywhere.  This was not so bad when IDL was young and
had just a few simple commands, but in recent years RSI has expanded IDL
into a full-blown language.  This is a classic example of reinventing
the wheel, badly. I have no interest in learning a complete new computer
language, so I will never be an advanced IDL user -- I will just use
direct graphics and the small subset of IDL I am familiar with.  But if
IDL could leverage a useful standard language like Perl, that would be
enough incentive for me to learn the language and become an advanced
user.  In addition, IDL would instantly and automatically pick up an
enormous code base of functions, including all sorts of useful numerical
algorithms.