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Paper: Interactive Analysis and Scripting in CIAO 2.0
Volume: 238, Astronomical Data Analysis Software and Systems X
Page: 310
Authors: Doe, S.; Noble, M.; Smith, R.
Abstract: Interpreted scripting languages are now recognized as essential components in the programmer's (and user's) tool chest, and, as amply demonstrated at ADASS 1999, have infiltrated the scientific community with great effect. In this paper we discuss the utilization of the S-Lang interpreted language within the Chandra Data Analysis System (CIAO, or Chandra Interactive Analysis of Observations). In only a few months, with substantial reuse and comparatively little manpower and code bloat, this effort has increased by an order of magnitude the analytical power and extensibility of CIAO. We summarize our design and implementation, and show brief fitting, modeling, and visualization threads that demonstrate capabilities roughly comparable with those of commercial packages. Finally, we present a beta version of the CIAO spectroscopic analysis module, GUIDE -- largely a collection of S-Lang scripts, glued with C++ enhancements to Sherpa and ChIPS -- to illustrate in more depth the range of new functionality and the rapid prototyping now available in CIAO.
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