A meeting was held in January 1999, with all GILDAS authors present.
D.Broguière summed up its evaluation of AIPS++. Besides installation problems, AIPS++ was found relatively slow on Plateau de Bure applications. The slowness was later tracked back to ordering of the UV data, although GILDAS software is still quite faster. Although AIPS++ is evolving positively, it is still not mature.
AIPS++ command language is non-declarative, variables being (re)-typed and (re)-dimensionned according to their content. This was disliked by most of the attendent (if not all).
P.Valiron described its interest in SIC as one of the command languages allowing mathematical operations, independent of any tailored applications by opposition to AIPS++. GILDAS is also widely used in various astronomical institutes (including NRAO).
Based on these premises, it was decided to go on a substantial refurbishment of the GILDAS software.