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2 General Applications Programming
2-1 PAR SUN/114.1
ADAM Parameter System Routines
Provides access to “parameters” from within applications. These are the
values which provide external control over an application (broadly similar
to command line switches in UNIX, or command qualifiers in VMS). The
PAR library allows these values to be obtained from the command line, by
prompting the user, or by a variety of other mechanisms. The latest version of
PAR includes a complete revision of the documentation and the addition of
a new set of routines which permit parameter values to be obtained subject
to various constraints.
2-2 NDF SUN/33.3
Extensible N-Dimensional Data Format
The Extensible N-Dimensional Data Format (NDF) is the
Starlink format for storing bulk data in the form of
N-dimensional
arrays of numbers. It is typically used for storing spectra, images and
similar datasets with higher dimensionality. The NDF format is based on the
Hierarchical Data System, HDS (see SUN/92), and is extensible; not only does
it provide a comprehensive set of standard ancillary items to describe the
data, it can also be extended indefinitely to handle additional user-defined
information of any type. SUN/33 describes the routines provided for accessing
NDF data objects. It also discusses all the important NDF concepts and
includes a selection of simple example applications.
2-3 MSG & ERR SUN/104.5
Message and Error Reporting
These provide a means for sending simple messages to the user of an
application, together with a mechanism for reporting errors. They address
many of the common problems encountered when formatting and displaying
text through their use of “message tokens”, a concept which is also exploited by
a number of other ADAM libraries. Most importantly, SUN/104 explains the
ideas underlying the error handling scheme and “inherited status checking” used
by the bulk of Starlink software.
2-4 CHR SUN/40.3
Character Handling
This library provides a simple way to perform many commonly required
operations on Fortran character variables. These include: formatting and
decoding numerical values, case conversion, analysing lists, string searching
and character testing. This library is currently being upgraded to include a
substantial number of new routines.
2-5 PGPLOT PGPLOT
Manual
Graphics Library SUN/15.5
SUN113.2
If you are unsure which high-level graphics library to use, then this is
probably the one for you. It caters for most simple graph-plotting needs in a
straightforward way (although it may not satisfy the more demanding user,
for whom NCAR may be preferable – see SUN/88). The PGPLOT manual,
entitled “PGPLOT – Graphics Subroutine Library”, is available from Starlink site
managers in the Miscellaneous User Documents (MUD) series. SUN/15 describes
the PGPLOT implementation on Starlink and shows how it integrates with SGS
(see SUN/85). Note that the Applications Graphics Interface AGI also provides
special routines for ease of use with PGPLOT (see SUN/48).
2-6 SGS SUN/85.5
Simple Graphics System SUN/113.2
SGS provides an easy-to-use interface to the Graphical Kernel System, GKS
(see SUN/83). GKS is the underlying system which provides graphics
“device-independence” but it is too low-level for general use, so calls to SGS
routines may be used instead to perform simple plotting operations which
do not amount to complete graph drawing. SGS is particularly useful for
managing the layout of plotting surfaces which are to be filled with graphs
drawn by higher-level routines. SUN/85 describes the “stand-alone” version
of SGS, while SUN/113 describes additional routines which connect SGS to
ADAM. The Applications Graphics Interface AGI also provides special routines
for ease of use with SGS (see SUN/48).
2-7 FIO & RIO SUN/143
File Input/Output
Provides a set of routines to facilitate the reading and writing of Fortran files.
These routines are not intended to replace the portable features of standard
Fortran 77, but to help integrate these features with ADAM. They also hide
some of the unavoidable, but non-portable, features of Fortran input/output.
The latest version of FIO & RIO includes a complete revision of the
documentation and new facilities to assist with error reporting and the
portable classification of I/O error status values. Some rationalisation of
routine naming has also occurred.
2-8 MAG SUN/171
Magnetic Tape Handling
Provides routines for accessing magnetic tapes and controlling tape drive
operations via the ADAM parameter system. A feature is incorporated to
minimise tape movement between applications by keeping track of the
absolute tape position.
2-9 PRIMDAT SUN/39.1
Primitive Numerical Data Processing
Provides arithmetic and mathematical functions for processing primitive
numerical data (real, integer & double precision values, etc.) including the
non-standard data types (e.g. unsigned byte) which are used in ADAM but
are not directly supported by Fortran 77. Routines are provided for both
scalar values and arrays, with optional recognition of “undefined” data and
methods for handling numerical errors such as overflow. A set of include
files is also provided to define machine-dependent constants, including the
important “bad” values used to flag undefined data. The systematic naming of
files and routines in this library is designed to integrate with the GENERIC
pre-processor (see SUN/7).
2-10 ICL SG/5.1
ADAM Command Language
Although ICL is really a command language from which applications are
run, the writer of ADAM applications will still find it useful to refer to this
document. It describes the ICL language, which includes a number of special
features for controlling and communicating with ADAM tasks.
2-11 IFL SUN/115.1
ADAM Interface Module Reference Manual
An “interface module” (or “interface file”) acts as an interface between an
application and its user. It describes to the ADAM parameter system (see
SUN/114) how to obtain values and other information (e.g. help text) for
an application’s parameters, and hence influences, in broad terms, how the
application behaves. This document provides reference information describing
in detail how to write an interface module.