Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!uunet!wuarchive!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!swrinde!kent
From: kent@swrinde.nde.swri.edu (Kent D. Polk)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: Scientific programs on Amiga
Message-ID: <28496@swrinde.nde.swri.edu>
Date: 1 Oct 90 15:07:19 GMT
References: <1990Sep29.021658.26896@evax.arl.utexas.edu> <6669@uwm.edu>
Reply-To: kent@swrinde.UUCP (Kent D. Polk)
Organization: Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio, Texas
Lines: 72

In article <6669@uwm.edu> duncan@csd4.csd.uwm.edu writes:
[...]
>He cites an underpowered machine as a prime reason, there are
>other reasons I'm sure BUT...  He mentions a set of "scientific
>visualization" software in the public domain for the Mac
>developed by Brad Fortner's Mac visulation group at the National
>Center for SuperComputer Appliications - Univ. of Il. 
>
>Transform
>View
>Format
>Dicer

You hit it right on the head.

>Transform allows one to manipulate floating point data and
>represent the data in various ways.  It supports HDF and provides
>routines in C and FORTRAN as libraries.

With the HDF libraries, you may write your two-dimensional image to an
"HDF" file from Fortran or C on your VAX, UNIX workstation, or a
SuperComputer like the cray, then download  them to a Mac or PC for
postprocessing and visualization (basically the equivalent of
showanim's for raster animations). 

Support IFF instead - provide IFF writers in the form of source or
libraries for use on such as: VAX, UNIX, and Cray-UNICOS from both
Fortran77 and C.

Comment from a fellow scientist:

"It is a real pain to have to write your files as some sort of ascii
portable file, [...] convert to IFF to perform the animations.  The HDF
format allowed the scientific user to go directly from the Cray to the
Mac for animations. WE in the amiga community could blow the Mac
"animations" away with IFF/ANIM animations -- if only we could casually
generate IFF files via calls to Fortran77 or C callable lib on the big
computers.  And we would then have the capablity to "postprocess" the
IFF's -- a capability sorely missing with in the HDF/Mac environment.
Unfortunately, the lib's would have to be distributed as source code
for portability to VAX, UNIX, and UNICOS -- but so does the HDF stuff
anyway."

>View appears to be a type of image analysis program and an
>animation program.

Signal and Image Processing. Also runs under X11.

>I recently attended a presentation where the analysis was really
>hindered by linear thinking.   It really needed a multivariate approach
>
>I mention these products because they seem to be in keeping with
>Commodore's approach that the amiga is a computer for the
>creative mind and IF they are freely available might be a place
>to start for porting.

Our thoughts exactly.

So, these are a few items that would be useful on the Amiga and could
be performed by students without a lot of ambiguity.  They are either
direct ports of existing programs, or involve a well defined program
development with existing code "chunks" for guidance.

Any takers?

BTW, this thread has generated quite a bit of email as well as these
substantive postings. I am keeping a list of requested software and
probably will post it sometime soon.

Kent Polk: Southwest Research Institute (512) 522-2882
Internet : kent@swrinde.nde.swri.edu
UUCP     : $ {cs.utexas.edu, gatech!petro, sun!texsun}!swrinde!kent