GDL (GNU Data Language)
Alain Coulais(LERMA CNRS et Observatoire de Paris)

On behalf of the GDL team:M. Schellens (head), J. Gales, S. Arabas,
M. Boquier, P. Chanial, P. Messmer, ...
Some students: G. Marshall, N. Galmiche, T. Mermet
Packagers: O. Poplawski (RH), S. Maret (OSX)
Some anonymous contributors and packagers
I don't succeed to be in touch with some former contributors(see Authors list in package)
GDL, Alain Coulais, Oct. 8 2009, ADASSPlan

What is GDL

Dependences and librariesPackaging versus compilation

Status and know usages



Examples and performances

How to contributeOnline informations



SummaryGDL, Alain Coulais, Oct. 8 2009, ADASSWhat is GDL
Please visit: http://gnudatalanguage.sourceforge.net/
GDL (GNU Data Language) is a free IDL (Interactive Data Language)
compatible incremental compiler (ie. runs IDL programs). IDL is a
registered trademark of ITT Visual Information Solutions.
GDL is code in C++, and use ANTLR

Full syntax compatibility with IDL 6.0
ALL IDL language elements are supported, including:* Objects,* Pointers,* Structs,* Arrays,* System variables,* Common blocks,* Assoc variables,* All operators,* All datatypes

No GUI support (widgets) is implemented so far.
GDL, Alain Coulais, Oct. 8 2009, ADASSLibraries and dependances


gcc



[Readline] (we do have auto-completion in GDL cursor ;-)Plplot

GSL



[FFTw] (~2 time faster than GSL version ...)

[ImageMagick][HDF and HDF5]

[netCDF][python] bindingAnd others (libproj4.3 for Earth mapping, ...)

GDL, Alain Coulais, Oct. 8 2009, ADASSPlateforms where GDL is available
as a pre-compiled package


RH, FC and SL (Thanks to O. Poplawski)

Debian and Ubuntu

GentooBSDMac OSX 10.4, 10.5 and 10.6 (Thanks to S. Maret)
BUT (except for RH/FC/SL) precompiled packages are usuallyOBSOLETES.
I strongly recommend to try to compile TGZ, or even better, theCVS versions.

GDL, Alain Coulais, Oct. 8 2009, ADASSPlateforms where GDL can be compiled
I report here only OS with recent success

Most Linux

Mandriva



RH, FC and SLDebian and Ubuntu http://doc.ubuntu-fr.org/gdl

Gentoo...



Most *BSDMac OSX 10.4, 10.5 and 10.6

http://aramis.obspm.fr/~coulais/IDL_et_GDL/GDLonOSX_10.5.6.html

Major concern: to compile the good readline lib ;-)GDL, Alain Coulais, Oct. 8 2009, ADASSStatus

Syntax OK
ASTRON lib mostly OK except the last changes (these newfunctions added in last IDL versions …)

MPfit OKread/write FITS files OKSave/Restore (except on some tricky structures)

Most numerical functions available (special functions, Voigt,Bessel*, …)Large set of graphical keywords
Please notice it is very easy to add pro/func coded in C++ in theGDL framework (if performance is an issue).
GDL, Alain Coulais, Oct. 8 2009, ADASSKnown Usages
We don't know if GDL is widely used or not, by who and forwhat but:We receive messages worldwide (Europe, USA, Colombia,Israel, India, ...)

The more the list of pro/func completes the less the messages

The simpler the compilation the less the messages

Known usages:
Master course at Paris Observatory (~20 students)



Course in an university in PolandRefereed papers where computations were done with GDL(e.g. : Koleva & al 2009, Arabas 2008)

Computations for PhD Thesis
GDL, Alain Coulais, Oct. 8 2009, ADASSExamples and performances

The FFT case

The TIME_TEST3 caseDemo (FFT on 2^Nx3^Px5^Q; dash: GDL, line: IDL, on samemachine)

GDL, Alain Coulais, Oct. 8 2009, ADASSHow to contribute

RTFM. We now have a “quick_start_GDL.sh”.

We really appreciate code donation ! (under GNU GPL)Contributors and Packagers are very welcome !





Development is clearly driven by end users (you), except forvery difficult tasks (“median” code was paid !)Don't be shy: we do have people who hesitate to report a bug,missing keyword, problems, … You can do it anonymously on
GDL sourceforge page (bug tracker)
Don't be impatient: most of us are busy with other tasks
Please consider the current status is stable enough for somefrequent users
Please report bugs and regressions !
GDL, Alain Coulais, Oct. 8 2009, ADASSGoals for next year
Please remember we consider that the current state of GDL(0.9rc3) represents a good interpreter and a large set ofworking pro/func.


Wider set of graphical keywords
Better Postscript output (or other format(s) for graphical outputsfor publications)
Wider automated testsuite to avoid regressions and better
catching bugs

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Better availability of up-to-date pre-compiled packages

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Inline or CLI help
GDL, Alain Coulais, Oct. 8 2009, ADASSInline ressources
Main pages


http://gnudatalanguage.sourceforge.net/

http://sourceforge.net/projects/gnudatalanguage/

Browsing the CVS:

http://gnudatalanguage.cvs.sourceforge.net/viewvc/gnudatalanguage/gdl/

Ubuntu

http://doc.ubuntu-fr.org/gdl



http://packages.ubuntu.com/fr/hardy/interpreters/gnudatalanguage

MiscellaneaHow to Compile:
http://aramis.obspm.fr/~coulais/IDL_et_GDL/memo_GDL.html
What is available ?
http://aramis.obspm.fr/~coulais/IDL_et_GDL/Matrice_IDLvsGDL.html
GDL, Alain Coulais, Oct. 8 2009, ADASSSummary

GDL is a living project which :does respect IDL syntaxdoes include now a very large set of procedures and functions (in C++)

can run most ASTRON codes, MPfit lib, save/restore …

works on x86 and x86_64 (maybe wider, but who care in 2009 ?)GDL does run on Linux and OSX.
On the computation side, GDL is competitive with IDL(functionalities, speed, scalability)
On the graphical side, GDL is currently not at IDL level(some missing Keywords, limited postscript export) BUT
graphic performance with PLplot are close to IDL ones.
Please give a try !
GDL, Alain Coulais, Oct. 8 2009, ADASS