IDL®
Extract meaningful visualizations
from complex numerical data

DISCOVER WHAT’SIN YOUR DATA

THE IDLLANGUAGE

A key foundation of scientific discovery is complex numerical data. If making
discoveries is a fundamental part of your work, you need a tool to help you understandwhat your data means, and how to apply that knowledge effectively; a tool to help you
discover what’s in your data. Using a powerful, modern programming language lets you
transform numbers into dynamic visual representations, so you can interpret your data,
expedite discoveries and deliver powerful applications to market.

When you need to transform complex
scientific data from numbers intovisualizations that convey meaningful
information – you need a programming
language that is intuitive, powerful andthat doesn’t require excessive time andeffort to produce expert-level results.

IDL IS THE PREMIER SOLU TION TO GE T INFORMATION FROM DATA ,REGARDLES S OF YOUR PRIOR PROGR AMMING E XPERIENCE.
IDL is the trusted scientific programming language used across disciplines to create
meaningful visualizations out of complex numerical data. From small scale analysis
programs to widely deployed applications, IDL provides the comprehensive computing
environment you need to effectively get information from your data.

IDL is a cross-platform
solution, providing
advanced visualization
and analytical tools forsolving a wide varietyof problems.

DY NAMIC T Y PE SYSTEM
IDL is a dynamically typed language –meaning you can change variables andvalues at runtime rather than creating new
variables and values, recompile and thenre-execute your code, as is required witha static language. The dynamically typed
nature of IDL gives you more flexibility
in your programming, which saves you
valuable time and allows you to focus
on data analysis and visualization,rather than on programming details.

In these images,
IDL was used tocreate a contour
image of theobserved levels of
precipitation in theplains of Texas.

HIGHLIGHTS:> A rich library of high-performance,
multi-threaded routines to analyze
your data> The ability to add your own specialized
routines to the library by writing
procedures more quickly thanother languages> Simple syntax, dynamic data typing,
and array-oriented operations> Intuitive language foranalysis> Built-in functionality suitable for many
data trends, with tools for two – andthree-dimensional gridding andinterpolation, routines for curve andsurface fitting and the ability toperform multi-threaded computations> Powerful, interactivegraphics system> Easy-to-navigate
development environment> A robust analysis engine

THE IDL PROGR AMMING L ANGUAGER EQ U I R E S F E W E R L I N E S O F C O D E
TH A N M A N Y OTHER L A NGUAGES.
Five lines of IDL code (above) were usedto create a contour plot of coastlinetopography (left).

INT UITIVE RULES ANDCONVENTIONSACCES S VIRT UALLY AN Y
T Y PE OF DATA

The IDL language is based on rules andconventions that are intuitive and easy
to learn, regardless of the languages
you’ve used before, or even if you haveno programming experience at all. Using
IDL you can create visualization programsand even full-blown applications withfewer lines of code. With an extensive
library of prebuilt analysis andvisualization routines, IDL is the choice forprogrammers of any experience level.

IDL provides built-in support for thedata sources, data types, file formats
and file sizes you use. Use IDL toaccess common formats like TIFF,JPEG, PNG and hierarchical scientific
data formats like HDF, HDF-EOS, CDF
and NetCDF as well as custom binary
and ASCII formats. And, because IDL isdesigned for large, multi-dimensional
data no job is too complex. Receive
data, from remote servers or write files
to a disk at a remote location using
common protocols. IDL acts as a client
to HTTP and FTP servers, and provides
access to common Open Geospatial
Consortium (OGC) servers such as WebMap Service (WMS) and Web Coverage
Service (WCS).

IDL is the programming language choice ofscientists and engineers because it’s easy to learn,easy to use and requires fewer lines of code thanother programming languages. Getting from data
to discovery is easier and faster.

0.625inTHE IDL DEVELOPMENT ENVIRONMENT
Creating ad-hoc visualizations or engineering large, widely-deployed applications requires a programming environment that allows
you to easily develop. The IDL workbench provides an intuitive, modern interface that will allow you to quickly create programs andbuild applications with all the programming tools you need readily available.
INT UITIVE INTERFACEIDL provides an intuitive interface that allows you to focus onanalysis with user-friendly features like an easy-access toolbar
that includes buttons for your most used programming tools.

The IDL development environment is intuitive and streamlined,making it easier for you to create visualizations on the fly or develop
feature-rich scientific applications.

FLE XIBLE DE VELOPMENT FE AT URES
IDL makes developing easier than other languages. Quickly
develop small programs or large applications using time-savingfeatures like content assist, auto complete, color coding andhover help. And, code templates make creating your plots,graphics and other visualizations easier than ever.

Creating visualizations for complex numerical data is
the key to unlocking the information in your data.
THE IDL GRAPHICS SYSTEMThe IDL graphics system is powered by the intuitive IDL language syntax, giving you theflexibility to create the high-quality graphics you need to interpret your data or share
publication-quality results with colleagues. And, because IDL is easy-to-use, you canstart producing powerful graphics quickly and easily.
U S E IDL TO CR E ATE VA RIOU S T Y PES
OF M A P PRO JECTIONS INCLU DINGMERCATOR , CONIC, CY LINDRICA L
A ND MOR E.

ROBUST HELP SYSTEM

The example to the left displays a map
projection of ocean temperatures aroundthe globe. IDL also has direct support for
GOES-16 data.

IDL Help is an example-based system that helps you solve
specific tasks. Thumbnail examples, text links and a visualnavigation paradigm all make finding help for your problems
fast and easy.
INTEGR ATE WITH OTHER APPLICATIONSIDL is a flexible and extensible language that supports two-way
interaction with other applications, including those developedin C, C++, Java, Visual Basic and more. Get the most from yourexisting code by easily calling other applications from IDL orcalling IDL into other applications.
SHARE YOUR PROGR AMS AND APPLICATIONSIDL allows you to share your small program or full application
code with colleagues who use IDL. For runtime distribution ofapplications to users who do not own an IDL license, IDL VirtualMachine is a no-cost option to run compiled IDL programs. Insituations where the developer requires greater flexibility, IDL
runtime licensing is available.
With the IDL development environment, you have quick access toprogramming tools to speed development such as color coding,hover help and code templates.

E ASILY CRE ATE PRESENTATIONQUALIT Y GR APHIC S
The scriptable nature of the underlying
IDL language makes it easy toquickly create powerful graphic
visualizations, ranging from twodimensional plots, graphs, maps andimage displays to complex, interactive,three-dimensional representations.
The powerful IDL graphics engineis designed to leverage OpenGL
hardware acceleration for rapid
rendering. This means IDL canefficiently handle large data sets andoutput the graphics you need.
CUSTOMIZE INDIVIDUALGR APHIC AT TRIBU TES
The interactive IDL graphics systemallows you to customize how yourgraphics look, whether you’re using
it for an office presentation or aninternational publication. While otherprogramming languages require
you to reprogram or regenerate
results to make a change, with IDL
you can modify line styles, symbols,
annotation, font style and color on thefly and save the code to recreate thegraphic.

IDL GR A PHIC V IS UA LIZ ATIONSARE DYNAMIC AND ALLOW YOU TOCUSTOMIZE INDIVIDUAL GR APHICAT T R I B U T E S L I K E L I N E S T Y L E ,C O LO R , F O N T A N D M O R E .
The 3D plot to the right was created withdifferent line colors to help effectively
distinguish between different data sets.

THIS IDL VISUALIZ ATION OF‘OBSERVED PRECIPITATION’ TO
THE LEF T WAS CRE ATED FOR A
KEYNOTE PRESENTATION.

Labels have been used to identifylocation, amount of precipitationand the time period of when data
was collected.

OU TPU T TO VIRT UALLY AN Y
IMAGE FILE FORMAT
Programmatically or interactively
output to a variety of standard image
formats, like GIF, JPEG, PNG, etc.
or import graphics into PowerPoint,
Keynote or HTML presentations.
Additionally, graphics can be output
to PostScript or PDF for inclusion ina journal article, TeX or Word
document. With so many standardized
output options, you can easily shareyour findings with colleagues forreview, secondary analysis or averification study.

THE POWER OF IDL ANALYSISIMAGE PROCES SING AND MAP PROJECTIONS
If you need to convert raw images to information, IDL contains an extensive library of image processing and analysis routines. IDL
allows you to extract useful information from nearly any type of digital image with tools for transforming image geometry, mapping,masking and statistics, warping, analyzing regions of interest, and contrasting and filtering.
SIGNAL PROCES SING
IDL has advanced tools for processing signal data, including transforms for signal decomposition, windowing algorithms, routines forsmoothing, convolving and applying digital filters to remove noise, and correlation and covariance techniques to analyze signals withrandom components. IDL also has a built-in wavelet toolkit that provides GUI and programmatic wavelet analysis ofmulti-dimensional data.

A MODERN LANGUAGE FOR A MODERN WORLDIDL PACK AGE MANAGER

IDL includes a powerful
and robust analysis
engine so you can get thespecific statistical andnumerical information
you need from your data.

New to IDL 8.7.1, the IDL Package Manager makes it easy to create collections of IDL
code that can be shared with other users and accessed with a few lines of IDL code.
VIS UAL ST UDIO CODE E X TENSION
If you are a fan of Microsoft Visual Studio Code you can view and edit IDL programswith syntax highlighting using the IDL Interactive Data Language extension. Featuring
syntax highlighting, text snippets for PRO code, ENVI Tasks and IDL Tasks, you’ll never
have to leave your favorite editor to write IDL programs.
IDL PY THON BRIDGE

The graphic above shows the locations of particles in a physics simulationand tracks the total energy over time. With visualizations like these, IDL
makes it easy to verify the behavior of complex algorithms or models
and, with temporal datasets, allows you to easily export the results asanimations.

Easily call existing libraries written in Python from IDL and vice-versa. The IDL Python
bridge makes it easy to connect to powerful, open-source libraries that can extend IDL’s
capabilities to a limitless potential. The bridge allows users to call Python from IDL andIDL from Python, using the same, familiar routines and syntax that makes IDL what
it is today.

MATH AND STATISTIC S ROU TINESThe IDL Advanced Math and Stats Module is an add-on solution
for when you need to quickly add advanced mathematicaland statistical functionality to an IDL application. It combines
advanced data visualization and analysis capabilities with thecomprehensive mathematical and statistical routines of theIMSL™ C Numerical Library – a set of pre-written mathematicaland statistical algorithms that can be embedded into yourprogram.
MACHINE LE ARNING
Data analysis has never been easier with access to machinelearning algorithms in IDL. Create classifiers using neuralnetworks, Softmax, Support Vector Machine (SVM), K-Meansand autoencoders. IDL allows you to read in data from virtually
any format and classify it with machine learning algorithms.
Advanced users can even use the IDL-Python bridge to access
TensorFlow or Keras to further extend your IDL applications.

USE IDL TO E ASILY TR AIN AND VISUALIZE THE PERFORMANCEOF M ACHINE LE A R NING A LGORITHMS ON IM AGES OR OTHERDATA.
The image above is an example that utilizes IDL’s autoencoder neuralnetwork for unsupervised classification on an image which creates areusable classifier that can then be applied to different datasets.

A look at the IDL extension for Visual Studio Code with examples of how you can use the IDL
Package Manager to pull down packages into your IDL session is shown above.

IDL has all
the tools youneed to easily
develop andintegrate
open source
packages
into any IDL
session,making it easy
for users tocollaborate andrapidly develop
prototypeapplications.

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