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General purpose software packages

There are several `general purpose' software packages in use in astronomy, like IDL (the Interactive Data Language) from CreaSo, and Mathematica, the system for `doing mathematics' from Wolfram Research Inc. Part of the strength of these packages lies in their `user libraries': collections of routines written by users, containing algorithms for frequently occurring astronomical problems. For IDL there is an astronomical user's library; for Mathematica there currently is not. But for Mathematica there are libraries from mathematicians, engineers and physicists, and it might be worthwhile to investigate the usefulness of these libraries for astronomers. End-Users would benefit from a repository where reviews of libraries, or of specific routines, are being deposited.



Sake Hogeveen
Tue Apr 4 22:20:48 GMT+0200 1995