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Paper: Sherpa. On the Move to Open Collaborative, Development
Volume: 495, Astronomical Data Analysis Software and Systems XXIV (ADASS XXIV)
Page: 313
Authors: Laurino, O.; Siemiginowska, A.; Evans, J.; Aldcroft, T.; Burke, D. J.; McDowell, J.; McLaughlin, W.; Nguyen, D.
Abstract: Sherpa is the Chandra Interactive Analysis of Observations (CIAO) modeling and fitting application. Written in Python, with efficient C, C++, and Fortran extensions, Sherpa enables the user to construct complex models from simple definitions and fit those models to data, using a variety of statistics and optimization methods. Sherpa is a general-purpose fitting engine with advanced capabilities, and has been used as a backend for the development of new applications like Iris, the Virtual Astronomical Observatory spectral energy distribution builder and analyzer. However, building and installing Sherpa as a standalone Python package was problematic, and such a build would not maintain all of the Sherpa capabilities. For version 4.7 (December 2014) Sherpa's build scripts have been completely rewritten, standardized, and made independent of CIAO, so that Sherpa can now be built as a fully functional standalone Python package, and yet allow users the flexibility they need in order to build Sherpa in customized environments.
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