lrlait@cdc910b21.gsfc.nasa.gov (Leslie Robert Lait) (02/14/91)
In article <DAFT.91Feb12092909@debussy.crd.ge.com> daft@debussy.crd.ge.com (Chris Daft) writes: >I read somewhere that there is a manual called the IDL Internals >Manual. Probably somewhere in the regular IDL (Interactive Data >Language) book. Does anyone have this, and can they comment on its >usefulness? > We have a copy (Version 2.0.7), sent to us by RSI. It is a thin, softcover manual describing the internal data structures and subroutines used by IDL. If you are writing C functions to be compiled and linked with IDL, then this manual is an absolute necessity. To do static linking, of course, you would need the object files (_not_ normally supplied by RSI), and I understand that dynamic linking (using the IDL LINKIMAGE facility) is possible only on the VAX/VMS version. We used it to add a graphics device driver to the default VMS setup and encountered no significant problems. Depending on whether this sort of thing is what you want to do, the Internals Manual is either mandatory or utterly useless. For an internals manual, though, it is fairly well written, with useful fragments of example code. Hope this helps. -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Leslie Robert Lait | lrlait@cdc910b21.gsfc.nasa.gov | "...Now hit any key. My opinions are my own, not NASA's. | WAIT! NO! Not *that* key!"
daft@debussy.crd.ge.com (Chris Daft) (02/16/91)
Thanks for the information. The IDL internals manual is available free from RSI, if anyone else is in need of a copy. -- Chris M.W. Daft <daft@crd.ge.com>