[qv]<IDL>Manual>HowToUse.Bravo!1

IDL is a statistical data analysis system, written in INTERLISP, and available on Maxc2. Although this memo is currently believed to be accurate, IDL’s location, status, and documentation are liable to change over the next few months. Consequently, any prospective user is strongly advised to request (via SNDMSG to IDL) to be placed on the IDL user mailing list. All such changes, new features, etc. will be advertised only via this list.

The IDL system is available as a LISP sysout under the name <IDL>IDL.SAV. Running that sysout (by typing <IDL>IDL to the executive) will, after it has identified itself and performed any initialization dictated by your INIT.LSP (ignore if you don’t have one), place you at the executive level of a relatively standard INTERLISP system. Most features of that system are as described in the INTERLISP manual, and save for the functions described in the documents mentioned below, that manual should be consulted for any questions about the environment.

User documentation is currently rather sketchy (a trend to which this memo is no exception!). The recommended course is to retrieve and read copies of <IDL>PROTOCOL.PRESS and <IDL>SUMMARY.PRESS from either IFS or Maxc2. The first is an annotated transcript of an IDL terminal session, which illustrates both the commonly used features of the language and some methods of data analysis. The second lists the functions of the system and briefly describes their arguments and behavior. More extensive documentation is in preparation and, in the meantime, we are both willing to answer questions on both data analysis and IDL.

Although the system is released, it will remain somewhat under development for the next few months, as we polish the interface. Consequently, we welcome comments and suggestions, as there is a definite possibility that they will be reflected in subsequent versions of the system.