On 7/16/07, Yannick Copin <y.copin@ipnl.in2p3.fr> wrote:

Hi,

I'd be interested in some astronomical utilities from the IDL Astronomy User's Library (http://idlastro.gsfc.nasa.gov/contents.html) converted to python/numpy. I had a look to idl2python (http://software.pseudogreen.org/i2py/), but the automatic translation fails, mostly because (I think) the conversion is Numeric-oriented, and because of the intrinsic differences in the function argument management between IDL and python.

Perhaps you could give some examples of where the conversion programs is not working for numpy. So, before pursuing in this direction, I'd like to know if this exercice has

already been done, at least partially.

Have you contacted the author of the package? The website states that the package has been tested on the IDL astronomy library, so he should be able to give you idea of how successful it was. If you do hear back from him I'd be interested to know how successful this project is, as I'm always looking for reasons to convert users in my astronomy department from things like IDL on to python :-) Cheers, Tim Leslie Cheers.

-- .~. Yannick COPIN (o:>* Doctus cum libro /V\ Institut de physique nucleaire de Lyon (IN2P3 - France) // \\ Tel: (33/0) 472 431 968 AIM: YnCopin ICQ: 236931013 /( )\ http://snovae.in2p3.fr/ycopin/ ^`~'^ _______________________________________________ Numpy-discussion mailing list Numpy-discussion@scipy.org http://projects.scipy.org/mailman/listinfo/numpy-discussion

Perry, I believe some of those documents are getting a bit dated. They still refer to only supporting numarray vs Numeric. Don't those need to be updated to specify numpy? Newcomers to the list might be confused if not familiar with the history, especially considering the numpy begat numeric begat numarray begat numpy timeline. Tom On Jul 16, 2007, at 12:03 PM, Perry Greenfield wrote:

On Jul 16, 2007, at 9:13 AM, Yannick Copin wrote:

...

Hi,

I'd be interested in some astronomical utilities from the IDL Astronomy User's Library (http://idlastro.gsfc.nasa.gov/contents.html) converted to python/numpy. I had a look to idl2python (http://software.pseudogreen.org/i2py/), but the automatic translation fails, mostly because (I think) the conversion is Numeric-oriented, and because of the intrinsic differences in the function argument management between IDL and python.

So, before pursuing in this direction, I'd like to know if this exercice has already been done, at least partially.

We have the idea of doing it, but not in a very literal sense (translating idl routines to Python counterparts). There has been some work in this area on our part, but because of budget pressures, much less over the last 2 years than hoped (things are looking better now, but it may be some months before activity picks up on this front again).

Work so far on our part has centered on:

Coordinate transformation utilities Synthetic photometry

So if you are interested in doing more literal translations, please feel free to go right ahead. There is even a place to put such stuff: http://www.scipy.org/AstroLib

Perry _______________________________________________ AstroPy mailing list AstroPy@scipy.org http://lists.astropy.scipy.org/mailman/listinfo/astropy

-- Dr. William T."Tom" Bridgman Scientific Visualization Studio Global Science & Technology, Inc. NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Email: William.T.Bridgman.1@gsfc.nasa.gov Code 610.3 Phone: 301-286-1346 Greenbelt, MD 20771 FAX: 301-286-1634 http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/