Good day!

I would like to know if it exists one or some books to learn IDL in
pdf that we can download free like we can find for many other
programmation language...

In preferance, I would like recent books... not too old.

Have any references to share?

Thank You

Max Demars

burton449 writes: 

> I would like to know if it exists one or some books to learn IDL in
> pdf that we can download free like we can find for many other
> programmation language...

It's hard to read this with the debt collector knocking
at the door and the wife nearing the end of her patience. :-(

Cheers,

David


-- 
David Fanning, Ph.D.
Fanning Software Consulting, Inc.
Coyote's Guide to IDL Programming: http://www.idlcoyote.com/
Sepore ma de ni thui. ("Perhaps thou speakest truth.")

On Jan 25, 3:03=A0pm, David Fanning <n...@dfanning.com> wrote:
> burton449 writes:
> > I would like to know if it exists one or some books to learn IDL in
> > pdf that we can download free like we can find for many other
> > programmation language...
>
> It's hard to read this with the debt collector knocking
> at the door and the wife nearing the end of her patience. :-(

Even for the mainstream languages, I rarely (almost never) find free
books that are good enough. There are plenty of tutorials and
introductions, but usually no good books for free.

On Jan 25, 11:45=A0am, burton449 <burton...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Good day!
>
> I would like to know if it exists one or some books to learn IDL in
> pdf that we can download free like we can find for many other
> programmation language...
>
> In preferance, I would like recent books... not too old.
>
> Have any references to share?
>
> Thank You
>
> Max Demars


Well if you can't afford to buy one yourself, sometimes
it turns out that your school/employer/institution can easily
be convinced to buy a book instead. Give it a try.

Ciao,
Paolo

David Fanning wrote:
> burton449 writes: 
> 
>> I would like to know if it exists one or some books to learn IDL in
>> pdf that we can download free like we can find for many other
>> programmation language...
> 
> It's hard to read this with the debt collector knocking
> at the door and the wife nearing the end of her patience. :-(

Is your new book available for pre-order? Tell your wife I'm quite willing to plonk down the $$ now and wait for it's
publication. :o)

FWIW, there are a couple of technical bookstores I subscribe to[*] that do this sort of thing as part of their regular
business. I.e. they release "beta" or "early access" electronic copies and then you re-download as new versions arrive
(e.g. final "printing", or typo-corrections, etc).

Are you going to release an electronic version?

cheers,

paulv

[*] http://www.manning.com   See "MEAP"
    http://pragprog.com      See http://pragprog.com/categories/new for examples of their "beta" books.
    etc...
    BTW, both of the above sites are always asking for authors..., e.g. http://pragprog.com/write-for-us

Paul van Delst writes: 

> Is your new book available for pre-order? Tell your wife I'm quite willing to plonk down the $$ now and wait for it's
> publication. :o)

What!? I assumed you were an IDL-8-ophile. :-)
 
> FWIW, there are a couple of technical bookstores I subscribe to[*] that do this sort of thing as part of their regular
> business. I.e. they release "beta" or "early access" electronic copies and then you re-download as new versions arrive
> (e.g. final "printing", or typo-corrections, etc).
> 
> Are you going to release an electronic version?

As I have been telling my credit card company (to deaf
ears!) I am *very* close to having a book available for
pre-order. I am doing what I hope is the penultimate
read through the entire book now, searching for those
ever illusive typos and trying to make the style and
tone consistent throughout. 

When I am finished, I am going to turn off the phone,
disconnect from the Internet, and take 3-4 days to 
write an index. If this is not done all at once, in
a concerted effort, the index is a dog's dish. :-(

If the cover art is finished by then (I expect it to
be), I will produce a number of books, from different
printers, to judge printer quality. I'll sell these
as pre-orders. I'm also going to make the book available
to a few select people who's opinion I value and/or who's
proofreading skills are extraordinary. (My wife falls into
the latter category.) The book will be available in
several electronic formats (if I can figure out how to
avoid getting the hundreds of figures completely mashed).
I've put it on my Kindle, and it looks great!

Then, I'll make the final round of corrections, read the
whole mess one more time, fixing bad page breaks as I go,
and toss the damn thing out onto the street, hoping I
NEVER have to read it again! 

You know a book is "finished" when you really can't stand to
look at it any more. :-)

Anyway, I'm sure this newsgroup will be the first to know
about any developments. It will not, however, be available
for free. :-)

I don't know how much the book will cost yet, because I am 
just in the process of talking to printers. It will be produced
entirely in color and printed digitally. I was talking to my son,
who just got an MBA degree, about pricing the book. I told him
I had about $50K of my time into it, and... He stopped me cold.
"Dad, how much it cost you to produce has NOTHING to do with
how you price the book. You price it according to what you can
sell it for." I just looked at him in dismay. I'm afraid I am
going to be making about five cents on the dollar. :-(

Cheers,

David

-- 
David Fanning, Ph.D.
Fanning Software Consulting, Inc.
Coyote's Guide to IDL Programming: http://www.idlcoyote.com/
Sepore ma de ni thui. ("Perhaps thou speakest truth.")

On Jan 25, 11:45=A0am, burton449 <burton...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Good day!
>
> I would like to know if it exists one or some books to learn IDL in
> pdf that we can download free like we can find for many other
> programmation language...
>
> In preferance, I would like recent books... not too old.
>
> Have any references to share?
>
> Thank You
>
> Max Demars


Take a look at this webpage if you want to get help for learning IDL
programming and command syntax?

http://physics.nyu.edu/grierlab/idl_html_help/home.html

And this website for list of commands:

http://physics.nyu.edu/grierlab/idl_html_help/idl_alph.html

Am 25.01.2011 17:45, schrieb burton449:
> Good day!
> 
> I would like to know if it exists one or some books to learn IDL in
> pdf that we can download free like we can find for many other
> programmation language...

I guess the many other languages are free too ;)

cheers
Reimar

> 
> In preferance, I would like recent books... not too old.
> 
> Have any references to share?
> 
> Thank You
> 
> Max Demars

burton449 writes: 

> Take a look at this webpage if you want to get help for learning IDL
> programming and command syntax?
> 
> http://physics.nyu.edu/grierlab/idl_html_help/home.html
> 
> And this website for list of commands:
> 
> http://physics.nyu.edu/grierlab/idl_html_help/idl_alph.html

Humm. Might be better to look in the /docs directory
of your own IDL distribution. Those files will be
a little more up-to-date than these. :-)

Cheers,

David 



-- 
David Fanning, Ph.D.
Fanning Software Consulting, Inc.
Coyote's Guide to IDL Programming: http://www.idlcoyote.com/
Sepore ma de ni thui. ("Perhaps thou speakest truth.")

David Fanning wrote:
> Paul van Delst writes: 
> 
>> Is your new book available for pre-order? Tell your wife I'm quite willing to plonk down the $$ now and wait for it's
>> publication. :o)
> 
> What!? I assumed you were an IDL-8-ophile. :-)

I like the new Function Graphics in IDL v8 .... and all the other (long overdue IMO) new stuff like lists, hashes,
overloading, etc.

But I am in the business of ideas (at least, I like to *think* I am :o). Not being an overly creative sort I rely on
scraping them from the brains of other folks ... particularly the ones who take risks.

How's that for a pre-order pick-me-up? Won't pay the bills, of course, but still....  :o\

cheers,

paulv

Paul van Delst writes: 

> But I am in the business of ideas (at least, I like to *think* I am :o). Not being an overly creative sort I rely on
> scraping them from the brains of other folks ... particularly the ones who take risks.
> 
> How's that for a pre-order pick-me-up? Won't pay the bills, of course, but still....  :o\

I have the first book reserved for you, hot off the presses.  :-)

Thanks!

Cheers,

David


-- 
David Fanning, Ph.D.
Fanning Software Consulting, Inc.
Coyote's Guide to IDL Programming: http://www.idlcoyote.com/
Sepore ma de ni thui. ("Perhaps thou speakest truth.")

Don't forget that I need the second one :-)

Cheers

In article 
<98ee1659-fe17-4c6b-9509-c3cfbd78c44a@m20g2000prc.googlegroups.com>,
 burton449 <burton449@gmail.com> wrote:

> Good day!
> 
> I would like to know if it exists one or some books to learn IDL in
> pdf that we can download free like we can find for many other
> programmation language...
> 
> In preferance, I would like recent books... not too old.
> 
> Have any references to share?
> 
> Thank You
> 
> Max Demars

This isn't free, but it is aimed at beginners.

http://www.amazon.com/Introduction-Programming-IDL-Interactive-Language/dp/012088559X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1296074053&sr=1-1

Ken Bowman

David Fanning wrote:

> If the cover art is finished by then (I expect it to
> be)

Just use that neat IDL "TV" command... how could there be any problems? ;-)

Pete.
-- 
Peter Clinch                    Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637   Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177              Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net p.j.clinch@dundee.ac.uk     http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

Peter Clinch writes:=20

> Just use that neat IDL "TV" command... how could there be any problems? ;=
-)

OK, I admit, I think TVSCL *and* TV should be banished
from the face of the Earth.

When I was traveling in Africa several years ago, one
of the African graduate students I was working with
explained to me how the educational system in his
country, established by the French colonial powers,
wasn't so much interested in educating young Africans
as it was in giving them what *appeared* to be an education.
The purpose, he explained to me, was actually to make
sure, with the rote learning methods, the calcified
doctrines, etc., to keep the Africans docile and dependent.

The TV command is *exactly* like that. Lib=E9rez les personnes! :-)

Cheers,

David


--=20
David Fanning, Ph.D.
Fanning Software Consulting, Inc.
Coyote's Guide to IDL Programming: http://www.idlcoyote.com/
Sepore ma de ni thui. ("Perhaps thou speakest truth.")