Re: thanks and comment

Hi Fred,

> Thank you to all (11 people) who responded to my inquiry about netCDF
> utilities to view files and plot one variable wrt another.  I will be
> surveying the options, which appear to range from sets of single
> commands invoked from the shell, to hooks into existing systems (like
> xmgr, Matlab, and IDL), to standalone interactive packages.
> 
> My one comment is that I still have to actually try these packages,
> i.e., grab the software and install it to really see what it does.  The
> comprehensive list at
> http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/packages/netcdf/software.html is certainly
> useful for browsing to see options, but the writeups are not
> standardized to elucidate comparison.  What might be an aid is to have a
> set of characteristics to describe each package's utility.  I suggest
> the following as a start.
> 
> OS
> window system
> interface: command line, added to existing program, or standalone
> viewing options: text, windows
> plotting capability: single variables, one variable vs. another,
> hyperslabs
> examples of interface to see actual invocation and syntax
> 
> Certainly, these are subjective (my choices), but, given the wide
> variety of packages, some further listing of characteristics could
> narrow a novice's selection.
> This might be an improvement on an already well-documented system, and I
> DO appreciate Russ Rew's and UCAR's continued support and attention to
> the listing of available programs.

This is a great suggestion, and I'll try to implement it as time
permits.  What I'd like to do is supply a table up front with some of
this information and links to the larger descriptions.

Thanks for the suggestion!

--Russ

_____________________________________________________________________

Russ Rew                                         UCAR Unidata Program
address@hidden                     http://www.unidata.ucar.edu