Welcome to a Slug's Guide to IDL. This site was created to be a resource for students working with the IDL programming language through simplified explanations and examples. Feel free to contribute by adding a plotting example. The idea is to collect a wide variety of different types of plots that one can use as as starting point or a template for their own plots. We also have collected various tricks/tips we have learned/found while using IDL over the years as well as compiled some great resources developed by D. Fanning, Carl Heiles, and others. The goal is to make your learning and use of IDL easier and hopefully less sluggish than mine. You can contact me at the address below. --Robert da Silva
This site is broken into 4 main sections: IDL Tips/Tricks, Plotting Tips, Widgets, Useful Links
All sections are color-coded *Beginner*, *Intermediate*, or *Advanced*.
If you are just looking for basics then start with the *Beginner* sections. *Intermediate* and *Advanced* sections are for those that want to get their hands dirtier to get more versatility.
This site is constantly under construction as I am always trying to find ways to improve it so check back often. I also recognize that I definitely don't know everything about IDL and perhaps some of the examples I provide could be done better/easier/more elegantly. If you have any suggestions for content you would like to see or ways to improve the site, feel free to email me at the address above.
While we do attempt to keep things as accurate and up-to-date as possible for legal reasons we do not make any guarantees nor do we accept any responsibility for anyone following these instructions. No warranty is expressed or implied for any portion of this page or the software it provides or links to.
IDL Tips/Tricks:
- Introductory Guides For Absolute Beginners
- Quick Introductions
- Mark Krumholz's Intro to Computing Class Notes : This class was designed to introduce students to scientific computing with IDL. It covers a wide range of topics and assumes no previous programming experience. If you have never programmed before and want to start by using IDL then you should look through these class notes. If you aren't interested in the science, you can skip the last 3 lectures.
- Carl Heiles IDL Introduction: An introduction to IDL that assumes some previous programming experience
- For a more complete introduction, you may want to read through one of several available online google books about IDL programming.
- Basic Tips
- More Advanced/Specific
- Speeding Up Your Code
- Neat Tricks
- Very Specific (Most people don't need to worry about this stuff)
- IDL Virtual Machine : share you IDL programs with people who don't have licenses. Make a stand-alone IDL program.
Plotting Tips:
Widgets:
- Basic Widget Use
- More Specific/Advanced Topics
:taken from D. Fanning's website
Questions and Answers (Awaiting Your Questions)
Astronomy Specific Tips/Tools:
- Astrolib: The IDL Astronomy User's Library (a.k.a. Goddard Library). This is essential for anyone using IDL for astronomical purposes.
- QueryVizier(): This program is sufficiently useful that it warrants being mentioned on its own. It is a handy IDL wrapper for querying vizier catalogs. If this code isn't working make sure you have the newest version.
- IDLUTILS: A large number of IDL tools developed for the SDSS. These are highly recommended (includes the Astrolib Goddard Library, MPFIT, and textoidl()).
- XIDL : code developed by J. X. Prochaska. Includes many handy tools for general IDL use, as well as specific astronomical applications such as data reduction. Requires IDLUTILS. Spectroscopic data reduction requires IDLSPEC2D.
- SLUG Tools:
- iReadThat: An IDL Astronomy Paper Management tool (Under construction)
- Stellar Pop Viewer: tool for viewing stellar populations (under construction)
- ao_prep: a tool for preparing AO observations (under construction)
Useful IDL Libraries:
IDL's strength lies in the built up legacy code. Here are some places you can find repositories of such code.
- Slug IDL Code: Our own Slug's Guide repository of user generated code
- RIDL (Under Construction)
- Coyote: David Fanning's IDL Library: This is the place to get the coyote library that contains a large amount of code that makes IDL quite a bit better (see fsc_color.pro and many more).
- Craig Markwardt's IDL Library: Among many very nice codes it includes MPFIT which is one of the most widely used nonlinear least squares curve fitting routines in IDL
- TeXtoIDL : developed by Matt Craig, this allows you to convert LaTeX formatting to IDL formatting
- JD Smith's IDL Library : Includes the incredibly useful hist_nd function which calculates the multivariate joint density function of n variables as well as the corresponding reverse-indices array.
- Other Useful Codes : These are codes not found in any big repositories but are still quite useful
Useful IDL Links:
- David Fanning's IDL guide: One of the best guides on the internet for using idl. His question/answer section is one of the best and most comprehensive out there.
How to Use PBworks to Edit this Site:
- The PBworks Manual and 30-second training videos can help show you how to edit, add videos and invite users.
- The best way to get your support questions answered is to click the help link at the top of this page. Our support gurus will get back to you asap.
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