PHYS-4007/5007 Course IDL Web Home Page

This web page contains the links of the various IDL procedure files that students in PHYS-4007/5007 can use to carry out their homework and use on their exams. The files here are in standard ASCII (text) format so that when you click on the link, the code will appear in your web browser. Follow these steps to save these files on your Windows machine.


Dr. Luttermoser's IDL Files for Download

Note that as the semester progresses, additional IDL procedure files will be included on this web page.

sampleplot.pro IDL procedure to generate plots
mycode2.pro Sample IDL procedure to generate hardcopy plots
erranal.pro IDL procedure to demonstrate errors
lsquaresprojectile.pro IDL procedure to demonstrate linear least-squares analysis
myfft.pro IDL procedure to demonstrate Fast Fourier Transforms (FFT)
specfft.pro IDL procedure to demonstrate FFT with an observed spectrum
stustartup.pro IDL procedure to run on IDL startup (see below)
workdir.pro IDL procedure to select a current working directory

The stustartup.pro procedure is used to compile and run procedures upon start up in IDL. One should activate this file through the following steps:

  1. Create a directory in your login directory (here assumed to be named C:\home) called idl.
  2. CD to this diectory and make a subdirectory called startup.
  3. CD to the startup directory and place this file (named stustartup.pro) and workdir.pro into the startup directory.
  4. Open IDL Workbench. Once the GUI appears, select the "Window" pull-down menu near the top of the GUI and select the "Preferences" item (at the bottom).
  5. Once the "Preferences" GUI appears, select "IDL" on the left side list.
  6. In this GUI, put the complete path/file name of this procedure in the "Startup file" box: e.g., C:\home\idl\startup\stustartup.pro .
  7. In the "Initial working directory" box, I suggest the inserting the following: C:\home\idl (again asumming your login directory is "C:\home".
  8. Click the "Apply" button followed by the "OK" button.
  9. Exit out of the IDL Workbench utility, then restart IDL. Once the login is complete, a GUI should appear asking you to select a working directory (C:\home\idl should be highlighted). Chose whatever diecrtory you want to work.
  10. Then any software you need to open or create will easily be found and any hardcopy graphics you create will be located in that directory.

Students, make sure you change the string for the MYDEFDIR in workdir.pro to reflect your preferred initial working directory on your machine for workdir to start its search from for a current working directory.


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Last modified: August 24, 2015 by D.G. Luttermoser