Product Description

Increasingly, scientists and engineers must quickly and efficiently analyze and visualize extremely large sets of data. Interactive Data Language, IDL, was designed to address just this need. A popular data analysis and visualization programming environment, IDL is used worldwide by scientists and engineers in fields as diverse as the physical sciences, medical physics, and engineering test and analysis.

In Practical IDL Programming, Liam E. Gumley provides a solid foundation in the fundamentals of procedural programming in IDL. He presents concise information on how to develop IDL programmers that are well structured, reliable, and efficient. The example programs in the book demonstrate key concepts and provide functionality that can be applied immediately. In addition, the book offers readers practical tips and advice on IDL programming, which they would otherwise discover only after years of experience.

While only modest prior programming experience is assumed, readers with experience in any procedural language will quickly translate their skills to IDL, learning the best programming practices for this new environment. Scientists, engineers, and students in educational, government, and commercial research and development environments will all appreciate the author's guidance in helping them effectively analyze and visualize data.

* Presents a comprehensive and detailed treatment of IDL data types, operators, expressions, array operations, input and output, direct graphics, plotting and imaging, publication quality output, and graphical user interfaces.
*Designed for novices and experienced IDL users and programmers alike.
* Provides an accompanying Web site with downloadable versions of all IDL programs in the book and a link to downloadable demonstration versions of the IDL software. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Review
Excellent book!Well written.Pretty complete, doesnt leave out those details you see annoyingly so often in other programming books.Highly recommend it.

Excellent practical guide to IDL
If you're like me, you've probably been confused at times by the semantics of IDL. I've been using IDL for several years now and I still run into obstacles every now and then. What I needed was a book that went through the basics first (like a C or Fortran book) and then covered the really practical stuff like plotting, imaging, saving output etc. Liam Gumley has done a great job here in showing the reader how to put IDL to work. I also own Dave Fanning's book, and the two books complement each other nicely. However I'd have to give the edge to Practical IDL Programming for it's clear and straightforward explanation of IDL fundamentals, and for very clear and well explained example programs, many of which I now use every day. ... Read more

Product Description
This book describes the essential IDL (Interactive DataLanguage) programming techniques readers need to write programs in theIDL language. It not only covers all the basics of line plots, contourand surface plots, image display, color handling, and hardcopy output,but it is also the only book currently available that shows readershow to write an IDL program with a graphical user interface and how tocreate and use objects in IDL. It is full of examples, tips, andtricks IDL programmers need to write powerful and elegant IDLprograms. The book describes over 50 IDL programs that can be used toenhance the reader's own IDL programs. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (13)

Best book you will find and book you will keep using
I am not the best at programming but it is more than required for astrophysics (I am a student at the University of Arizona). I tried to piece together an understanding of idl from various "free" tutorials and "messing around with it" but I never felt very comfortable... until I bought this book by D. Fanning.

D. Fanning's site is fairly legendary among idl people and his book proves his reputation. Concise, organized, self-study, quick, plenty of examples, talks you through everything... I don't see how anything could be this book (teachers included).

Expert -> beginner, does not matter!

Strange book
I started programming in FORTRAN 77.When I got into image analysis, I discovered IDL.This book is interesting (read: strange) because it tells you what IDL can do, rather than how it works.I want to sit down and write efficient, effective IDL programs.This book is not very helpful in doing this.It seems to be more of a showcase for IDL.

At this point I'm going to try "Practical IDL Programming" -- this book seems to go into the nuts and bolts of IDL syntax.

The bottom line is that Fanning's book is not well suited for individuals that want to simply write lines of IDL code.

THE book to learn how to program IDL applications
This is the definitive reference for novice and experienced IDL programmers alike.From a clear description of how to handle colors to an introduction to object oriented programming in IDL, this book covers most topics that will get the novice started and keep going through sophisticated GUI application development.This book can be read from cover-to-cover or you can pick and choose a chapter on a topic you'd like to learn.David's relaxed style is conducive to learning the fundamentals and, most importantly, he shows the many tricks that only an expert programmer knows.I cannot say enough good things about this book!

Valuable Guide to IDL
The IDL manuals issued with the software are only mildly helpful when it comes to learning the language. That's why David Fanning's IDL Programming Techniques is uniquely valuable. The book serves as both a course and a reference guide to IDL, where examples are provided to assist the reader with their programming needs. David's book centers on the most common use of IDL: displaying plots, analyzing images, and scientific data formatting.David's examples are often detailed with additional commands that are not routinely considered when using the RSI manuals, but are substantially helpful in improving the codes performance. The book and the accompaning code available online will help any user improve their computational ability. After working through the book, my productivity in IDL use has increased at least an order of magnitude. Furthermore, I frequently refer to the book while I'm building new codes, and as such, this has become one of the most valuable books on my shelf. The book covers reading and writing HDF data, Widgets, screen and hardcopy outputs, and general IDL fundamentals. As an added plus, David is remarkably responsive, through his website, when the reader needs some additional help.

Don't waste your money
I can only assume that the reason this book got so many good reviews is because for so long it was the only book out there on IDL: and compared to learning IDL from the computer manuals anything seems good.
My complaints: The author continually introduces extraneous commands into his examples just to show off what IDL can do.He does not explain where these extra bells and whistles come from, and so gives the impression that IDL is FAR MORE ARBITRARY than necessary.This is annoying to say the least, but also makes it difficult to learn the lanquage when you can't understand the complete example.The chapter on color is especially nightmarish: a plethora of commands with very little complete explanation.Programming by rote.
... ... Read more

Product Description
In today's information age, scientists and engineers must quickly and efficiently analyze extremely large sets of data. One of the best tools to accomplish this is Interactive Data Language (IDL®), a programming and visualization environment that facilitates numerical modeling, data analysis, and image processing.IDL's high-level language and powerful graphics capabilities allow users to write more flexible programs much faster than is possible with other programming languages.

An Introduction to Programming with IDL enables students new to programming, as well as those with experience in other programming languages, to rapidly harness IDL's capabilities: fast, interactive performance; array syntax; dynamic data typing; and built-in graphics. Each concept is illustrated with sample code, including many complete short programs.

·Margin notes throughout the text quickly point readers to the relevant sections of IDL manuals

·End-of-chapter summaries and exercises help reinforce learning

·Students who purchase the book are eligible for a substantial discount on a student version of the IDL software ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A Book for Beginning IDL Users
Nothing is more intimidating to a new user of IDL than to sit down at a computer with an empty command line prompt and a stack of manuals on their desk and be told to write an IDL program. Where to begin!? And the experience is especially frightening to a new user with little or no programming experience in any language, let alone IDL.

Ken Bowman has written an IDL book specifically for this user. It is intended as an introductory computer programming course for the research user with little or no training in any computer language, and it evolved from notes Ken uses in his own undergraduate IDL programming courses. It is meant to get the new IDL user analyzing and plotting data as soon as possible.

It is a narrow path he treads, because it is just as easy to offer too much detail as it is to offer too little information to the beginning user. Ken, for the most part, gets it exactly right in covering a broad selection of topics. I quibble with just two chapters. He sweeps aside the complexity of PostScript output by offering the new user two utility programs he fails to explain in the text, and his theoretical explanation of the FFT function left me gasping for breath and lamenting I hadn't paid closer attention in those long-ago math classes.

This is a book that will get you started, but probably won't answer all your questions when you turn your attention to more difficult research problems. Ken doesn't pretend it is anything other than what it is, however, and provides generous and helpful suggestions for where you can find additional information as you become ready for it. Readers already familiar with another programming language will appreciate this introduction to IDL, but might become frustrated with the slower pace and lack of specific detail on many topics.

The book has an associated web page, where you can find, among other things, the source code for all the programs mentioned in the book. Pay particular attention to the Errata section, especially if you are interested in structures in IDL. A printer glitch removed all the curly brackets from Ken's IDL code in the structure chapter and none of the examples will work as written in the book. A software problem, no doubt. (The example programs for the chapter are correct.) It serves as a reminder to me of how complex a topic software programming can be. This friendly book will be a welcome introduction to the subject for many a potential IDL programmer. ... Read more

Product Description
This sourcebook shows Java developers how to use Java IDL to create powerful Web applications using CORBA distributed objects. Readers will quickly learn how to develop working Java applications using Java IDL. All code is included in the book and can be downloaded from a Sun-supported Website. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Inspirational
I've never seen a book about Java IDL quite so clear and, well, inspiring.Plus the cover is pretty.

Good CORBA reference
This ia good material on CORBA with some useful discussions on CORBA services and architectural concepts. I have been doing a lot of CORBA and find this book to be a good guide.

Text and examples are hard to follow
Book doesn't even explain what is meant by "Java IDL" until page 91, and even there the definition is a poor one.A pretty good definition finallyappears on p 241. ... Read more

Product Description
This book is for everyone who wants to learn Object Oriented Programming with IDL. It is meant for the average IDL user who has written normal procedures and functions. No other knowledge of Object Oriented Programming is required. Using examples and code that can be downloaded the reader will learn basic techniques and move quickly to advanced topics like polymorphism, abstraction and method overriding. ... Read more

Product Description
(Pearson Education) Offers programmers working with COM an accessible and detailed description of IDL and its application to COM development projects. Presents all of the various constructs, such as generating type information, interface inheritance, asynchronous calls, and object references and pointers. Softcover. DLC: IDL (Computer program language). ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

IDL in bits and pieces
This book goes into more detail about IDL than most people care about. However if you start wondering why your interface is not being properly marshalled, knowing your IDL will save you from scratching your head in biwilderment.

If you dont want any surprises from COM marshalling this is the book to get. Even in the .NET world, this book will be useful. All the COM components out there today are not just going to go away.

Become a COM expert
Forget about class factories and such...
The real issue in COM is type libraries and proxy/stubs and how these are created using IDL.Also of great importance is designing COM interfaces so that they may be utilized by VB and C++.This is a one stop reference for all that good information.
If you program COM, buy this book.It will pay for itself in minutes.

Required Reading for COM Programmers
COM programmers have waited a long time for a definitive book on IDL, and Mr. Gudgin has written it. A superb summary of the language that is central to real-world COM programming, and a one-stop resource for developers struggling with IDL. Chock full of juicy details, with coverage of topics ranging from the structure of IDL files to method aliasing and asynchronous COM. If you're a COM programmer, this book will pay for itself many times over. ... Read more

Product Description

Demonstrating the breadth and depth of growth in the field since the publication of the popular first edition, Image Analysis, Classification and Change Detection in Remote Sensing, with Algorithms for ENVI/IDL, Second Edition has been updated and expanded to keep pace with the latest versions of the ENVI software environment. Effectively interweaving theory, algorithms, and computer codes, the text supplies an accessible introduction to the techniques used in the processing of remote sensing imagery.

This significantly expanded edition presents numerous image analysis examples and algorithms, all illustrated in the array-oriented language IDL—allowing readers to plug the illustrations and applications covered in the text directly into the ENVI system—in a completely transparent fashion. Revised chapters on image arrays, linear algebra, and statistics convey the required foundation, while updated chapters detail kernel methods for principal component analysis, kernel-based clustering, and classification with support vector machines. New additions to the second edition include:

• An introduction to mutual information and entropy
• Algorithms and code for image segmentation
• In-depth treatment of ensemble classification (adaptive boosting )
• Improved IDL code for all ENVI extensions, with routines that can take advantage of the parallel computational power of modern graphics processors
• Code that runs on all versions of the ENVI/IDL software environment from ENVI 4.1 up to the present
• Many new end-of-chapter exercises and programming projects

The code is available for upload from the author's website athttp://mcanty.homepage.t-online.de/software.html

With its numerous programming examples in IDL and many applications supporting ENVI, such as data fusion, statistical change detection, clustering and supervised classification with neural networks—all available as downloadable source code—this self-contained text is the ideal resource for classroom use or self study.

Product Description
A concise introduction and reference to the IDL programming language. This pocket paperback is for beginning users who want a fast way of getting up to speed on IDL. New users will also find this useful as a quick reference. Updated for the new syntax and plotting for IDL 8.0 ... Read more

Product Description
What is the Subject Area?

The Interface Definition Language (IDL) provides a way of describingCOM interfaces that doesn't depend on any other programminglanguage. As such, it is currently the best and most generic meansavailable for expressing your interface and object designs. More thanthat though, IDL is fundamental to the generation of the typelibraries that are becoming pervasive within the COM architecture, andthe marshaling code that enables COM remote procedurecalls. Well-written IDL can enhance the performance of your COMcomponents --- it's just too important to be left to the Wizards.

This book clearly explains the syntax and usage of IDL, but that'sonly the beginning of the story. You'll also learn how to writeefficient interfaces in a way that facilitates their use fromlanguages other than C++. You'll also get a comprehensive (over 40)list of interface and object design techniques and guidelines thatshorten your design learning curve and pay for the price of the book.

The book places all of this in context by demonstrating C++/ATL codethat implements an On-Line Auction. You'll see sophisticated COMtechniques, such as Alternate Identity, Delayed Initialization, SplitIdentity, multiple scriptable IDispatch interfaces, persistencedelegation, marshaling structures with embedded pointers, usingIMallocSpy, etc.

The code is very far from being an academic exercise! The applicationfunctionality is realistic and the examples demonstrate how to buildCOM Object Models that work with cutting-edge technologies such asOLE-DB, DHTML controls, STL collections, etc. The architecture andinterfaces are carefully designed to be used from any programminglanguage and the book proves this! The COM client bindings chaptershows you how to build exactly the same front end to the AuctionServer in VB, Java, C++/MFC, DHTML/VBScript and DHTML/JScript!

What's Great About this Book?

- Explains the syntax and features of the Interface Definition Language.
- Analyzes the issues surrounding COM marshaling and memory management.
- Teaches how to design your interfaces to be used from any client language.
- Examines common IDL programming pitfalls.
- Describes how COM types, interface and interface protocols bind to
the different client languages.
- Shows you how to design your application for maximum portability.
- Implements a realistic COM application with a fully-featured object model.

Who is this Book for?

This title is aimed primarily at C++ developers with a workingknowledge of COM and ATL who want to improve the efficiency of theirinterfaces and make using them from client languages as intuitive aspossible.

Its focus on interface programming should also make it valuable toexperienced developers (including CORBA programmers) who areinterested in learning about COM style Interface Programming. Becauseof the way it treats the design of COM object models, it should alsoprove helpful to architects and project leads who are responsible forimplementation of object oriented systems that use the COMinfrastructure.Amazon.com Review
An expert-mode guide to the inner workings of the DistributedComponent Object Model (DCOM), COM IDL and Interface Designalso provides some excellent sample code for objects that are usefulfor an e-commerce Web site. The author argues that you can design withInteractive Data Language (IDL) manually and then write the codebehind it in C++, Visual Basic, or Java.

The book begins with aquick tour of Component Object Model (COM) basics, including interfacediagrams and dual interfaces (used for scripting COM objects inVB). Next comes material on remote method calls and DCOM, includingsome excellent material on apartment models and marshalling. There isa thorough guide to all IDL data types, whether basic types, arrays,references, and pointers or VB automation data types (such as BSTRsand Variants). A chapter on application design displays the author'sconsiderable knowledge of COM and software patterns.

The heart ofthis book is the author's case study of COM objects needed for anelectronic auction Web site. After walking through the design process,the author creates all the relevant COM objects in IDL. Next he showsclient-side test programs written in Visual Basic, Visual J++, VisualC++ (and Microsoft Foundation Class [MFC]), VBScript, andJavaScript. The last part of the book builds the server-side objects(based on his IDL) in C++ using the leading-edge ActiveX TemplateLibrary (ATL) for fast performance. The author gives you everythingyou need here including several custom extensions to ATL.

Filledwith expert knowledge, COM IDL and Interface Design turns outto be one of the best available guides for advanced development withdistributed objects in DCOM on the Microsoft platform. --RichardDragan ... Read more

Customer Reviews (14)

this is the book to write COM, starting from the data model
This book is a bottom up approach to COM, which starts from the IDL, but then goes through all the marshalling mechanisms, remote method calls, etc. About Mid-book Dr. Major presents an application design model which starts from the interfaces. The book will prove useful to those who want to design COM classes and interfaces that know how to behave based on whether they are local or remote, in-proc or out of proc and in general are better adapted to their environment.

Not usable by itself.
The contents are great. The explations are [not usable]. Best used in conjunction with, "Essential IDL", which is much more friendly and easier to understand and then try to fathom the more advanced details in this book, if you can that is.

A good resource for obscure IDL
This is one of those books that would be nice to have just in case. But the IDL that most programmers would need can be picked up from COM books or the MSDN. The author has some nice diagrams for marshalling and discusses various IDL nuances for pointers among other topics. He leads a rather obscure argument for not using QueryInterface(). This book would probably mean more for those that are highly skilled in COM.

This book is definitely not the place to start to learn COM. Try "Beginning ATL 3" or the more readable "Active Template Library" by Armstrong, or others. Keep in mind that IDL files are not even necessary to produce COM servers unless of course type libraries are needed. A use for this book would be to tinker with the IDL that is produced by wizards [ATL] or to understand it. But again chances are that one could or would learn most of the IDL that they need elsewhere.

Excellent Com book
This is an excellent book.I have bought many other books on ethernet and switching but nothing is comparable- it is much better.This is a very wellstructured book.If one is to buy only one book on ethernet it is theone.

But amazon.com is wrong in one way - they are giving credit to someghost writers like alan major etc. in et al wheras in reality there is onlyone author i.e Al Major.When you buy the book you will know it as I did

Some useful information, but not as complete as expected.
I bought this book having grasped the basics of COM and IDL and expectingit to help me improve my designs and better understand the issues in how todevelop a "good" COM interface.

I found to be mostlydisappointing from a design standpoint. Many issues which six months laterI had learned were really very important (e.g. the vital question ofwhether to support IDispatch or not and the huge performance penalty inMFC's default use of this interface) were not covered.There are manytrade-offs in COM and I found little discussion of them here.

As areference it has potential, since it is thorough and deep, but as otherreviews have mentioned, it's not as easy to use as a reference as itperhaps should be.

In the end, it's been sitting on my shelf largelyuntouched as other ATL and COM books become dog-eared with use.So fromme, it's thumbs down. ... Read more

Product Description
This book is essential for anyone wishing to start using the new IDLDevelopment Environment as quickly as possible.Written for the user that has never used the Eclipse DevelopmentEnvironment, you will quickly learn all about Perspectives, Views anduseful tips and tricks. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Pocket reference book
This book wasn't at all what I expected.I guess I should have paid better attention to the size and page count -- it could easily fit in my back pocket or purse and it's only 75 pages long. $25 for 75 dinky pages?!

I would be fine with the size if it actually imparted a decent amount of information.It doesn't.I'd never used the IDL Workbench before and I pretty much figured out most of what I needed before the book ever arrived.There may be a couple of helpful hints, but I'm not sure I'll ever use the utilities those hints address.

If you are really interested in the workings of the IDL Workbench I'd suggest another book. ... Read more

Product Description
High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! IDL (Interface Description Language) is a software interface description language (also referred to as Interface Descriptor Language) created by William Wulf and John Nestor of Carnegie Mellon University and David Lamb of Queen's University, Canada. Like other interface description languages, IDL defined interfaces in a language- and machine- independent way, allowing the specification of interfaces between components written in different languages, and possibly executing on different machines using remote procedure calls. ... Read more

Product Description
Chapters: Fortran, APL, GNU Octave, J, Mathematica, MATLAB, Nial, Scilab, IDL, SuperCollider, K, NumPy, Perl Data Language, ADMB, ILNumerics.Net, SAC programming language, F-Script, A+, Yorick, FreeMat, IMTEK Mathematica Supplement, S-Lang, Genius, Q, ZPL, Sysquake, JLab, Rlab, JMathLib, O-Matrix, Ana, NGL, NESL, APLX, COMSOL Script, LYaPAS, MEX file, FISh,. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 177. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Fortran (previously FORTRAN; blends derived from IBM Mathematical Formula Translating System) is a general-purpose, procedural, imperative programming language that is especially suited to numeric computation and scientific computing. Originally developed by IBM at their campus in south San Jose, California in the 1950s for scientific and engineering applications, Fortran came to dominate this area of programming early on and has been in continual use for over half a century in computationally intensive areas such as numerical weather prediction, finite element analysis, computational fluid dynamics, computational physics, computational chemistry, and electricity supply systems state estimation. It is one of the most popular languages in the area of high-performance computing and is the language used for programs that benchmark and rank the world's fastest supercomputers. Fortran encompasses a lineage of versions, each of which evolved to add extensions to the language while usually retaining compatibility with previous versions. Successive versions have added support for processing of character-based data (FORTRAN 77), array programming, modular programming and object-based programming (Fortran 90 / 95), and object-oriented and generic programming (Fortran 2003). An IBM 704 mainframe FORTRAN code on a punched card, showing the specialized uses of columns 1-5, 6 an...http://booksllc.net/?id=11168 ... Read more