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Planning for Releases of AIPS++	Tim Cornwell NRAO, Socorro New Mexico, U.S.A.
whole document as Postscript	HTML updated: 1996 December 2

N.B. This document uses HTML 3 Tables, and in-line images to display mathematical expressions.
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Contents

• Contents
• Purpose
• Introduction
• The beta release (AIPS++ V0.9) and LPR (AIPS++ V1.0)
  • Goals
  • Planned general capabilities
  • Contents
  • Logistics
• Release V2
  • Goals
  • Contents

Purpose

This document describes the release philosophy and schedule for 1997 and 1998. It has been updated following comments by the AIPS++ STAG given in the 1996 report.

Introduction

We plan various releases of AIPS++ in 1997 and 1998. In this document, I describe in varying degrees of detail what we intend to deliver in each of these releases.

We plan to make two major releases, one in 1997 and one in 1998. The first is designated as a ``Limited Public Release'' since it will contain only a subset of the functionality expected to be present eventually. The second release, in 1998, is expected to have a more rounded set of capabilities. The limited public release is preceded by an explicit ``beta'' release.

Beta Release: AIPS++ V0.9 Due Early 1997

• Targeted to consortium sites and a few friendly astronomers
• Contains basic environment, tools, synthesis applications.
• Will get early exposure for AIPS++

Limited Public Release: AIPS++ V1.0 Due Mid 1997

• Open release, targeted to both astronomers and programmers
• Contains basic environment, tools, synthesis applications.
• GUI frontends to major Distributed Objects and applications
• Interfaces should be fixed at this point,
• Will provide environment for code development.

AIPS++ V2 Due Mid 1998

• Synthesis package (including some functionality for VLBI)
• Single dish package
• Image Analysis package
• General toolkit
• Visualization toolkit and applications
• Contributed code

It is essential that the first impressions made by these releases of AIPS++ be good ones. Hence given a choice between adding functionality and improving quality of what already exists, we will go with the latter. Furthermore, it is vital that these releases be timely. The priority is timeliness, quality, functionality. If the planning given here is correct, these don't conflict too much.

The beta release (AIPS++ V0.9) and LPR (AIPS++ V1.0)

Goals

The principal goals of the beta release and the LPR are:

• Provide astronomers with a first look at functionality in a number of different areas: synthesis, image analysis, general tool-kit
• Get experience with distribution and support of AIPS++ outside consortium sites,

Planned general capabilities

• The AIPS++ interface will be primarily via Glish ($\beta$), so that existing command-line apps will be wrapped. There will only be of order two or fewer substantial GUI-based applications.
• In suitable cases, the Glish ``closure object'' format for Glish functionality will be used. : Responsible person: Brian and Tim, Status: Done: Note 198, Notes: Document describing coding standards and documentation.
• All capabilities available to users will be documented ($\beta$) : Responsible person: Wes, Status: On-going, Notes:
• Tutorials for processing will be present (LPR).
• Test suites for applications to be present (LPR).
• We will provide meaningful error messages for at least the usual failure conditions ($\beta$)
• We will provide a "dictionary" of arguments for Glish functions and methods ($\beta$)
• We will organize applications code ($\beta$) according to package/module and then one of:

  application

  object.method(): an example is imager

  server object

  object.method(): an example is table

  solitary object

  unique.method(): an example is logger

  function

  function(): an example is uvfits2ms()

  simple function

  function(): builtin or other function who's inputs aren't logged. An example is sin()

• We will provide a number of GUI tools to be invoked from Glish:
  • logging window w/filters ($\beta$), : Responsible person: Brian, Status: Initial versions in place, Notes: Filtering probably deferred until LPR release.
  • table editor (faster, change cells/keywords) ($\beta$), : Responsible person: Paul, Status: tablebrowser in place, Notes: Editing probably deferred until LPR release.
  • image display window ($\beta$) : Responsible person: Tim, Status: Adequate version available, Notes:
  • file chooser : Responsible person: Wes, Status: In place, but needs documentation, Notes:
  • web browser ($\beta$) : Responsible person: Wes and Tim, Status: Started but needs more work, Notes: Simple interface to standard browser allowing one to send commands from Glish to a browser.
• We will supply standard application services available to C++ clients.
  • Logging ($\beta$) : Responsible person: Brian, Status: In place, Notes: Needs to be used everywhere
  • Simple image display (LPR)
  • Simple plotting (LPR)
  • Confirmation ($\beta$)
• Performance goals : Responsible person: Tim and Mark W, Status: Under continuous monitoring, Notes:
• AIPS/AIPS++ interoperability aids : Responsible person: Athol, Status: Being planned, Notes: Software and documentation to aid users in moving between AIPS and AIPS++

Contents

For the beta release and LPR, we will aim for only two packages: aips and synthesis, though single dish (the dish package) might be included if possible.

package=aips

module=input/output ($\beta$)

: textio allows reading and writing AIPS++ tables to and from ascii format tables.

• textio := aips.make_textio(logger, host, root_dir)
• textio.table2text(table_handle_or_name, file_root, recurse)
• textio.text2table(filename, new_table_name, recurse)

: Responsible person: Doug, Status: To start November 1, Notes: Doug will be responsible for writing a user's guide to the use of AIPS++ for analysing/manipulating tables from e.g. ascii, AIPS, MIRIAD

module=image ($\beta$)

: allows manipulation of AIPS++ images from within Glish

• image := get_image(filename, logger, displayer, plotter, host, root_dir)
• image := make_image(filename, shape, coords, make_mask, default_value, tile_shape, displayer, plotter, logger, host, root_dir)
• image := image.clone(filename, root_dir)
• image := image.project(template_image, original_image)
• image := image.fouriertransform(image, axes)
• image := image.convolve(image, psf, axes)
• image := image.subimage(blc, trc, keep, filename)
• region := image.make_region(mask_image, keep, filename)
• image.summary()
• image.statistics()
• image.display()
• array := image.get_chunk(blc,trc)
• image.put_chunk(blc,array)
• imcoord := image.coords()
• image.combine()
• image.moments()
• image.fit1d()
• image.imlin()

: Responsible person: Brian, Status: In progress, needs documentation, Notes: Brian has written a DO interface to use Neil's code. We definitely need some more capabilities in Fourier transformation and convolution.

module=inputs ($\beta$)

: attachs inputs to a Glish object so that control parameters may be set, displayed, stored, retrieved and defaulted.

• inputs - a one level deep record (cannot add/remove fields) with the current values
• inputs.defaults() = default values
• inputs.set(variablename, value);
• inputs.save(filename)
• inputs.get(filename)
• inputs.inputs();

: Responsible person: Tim, Status: Initial version done and documented, Notes: Used in imager.g

module=measures

: various useful conversions

• string_date := measures.time(mjd, form="ymd clean"); ($\beta$)

: Responsible person: Wim, Status: In progress, Notes: Wim has written initial DOs and GUIs for both Units and Measures.

module=measurementset (raw data) (LPR)

: MeasurementSet allows various operations on MeasurementSets.

• ms := aips.get_ms(filename, logger, host)
• ms.summary()
• ms.statistics()
• newms := ms.sort(keep)
• newms := ms.select(keep)
• ms.flag() (LPR)
• ms.display() (LPR)

: Responsible person: No-one, Status: Deferred, Notes:

module=logging ($\beta$)

: logging of messages from apps and from Glish

• messages.log(message, severity, location)
• messages.print(how_many, severity)
• messages.purge(how_many, severity)
• table := messages.table()

: Responsible person: Brian, Status: Due Dec 4, Notes:

module=table ($\beta$)

: allows access to Tables from within Glish.

• gtable functionality recast as Glish object

: Responsible person: Tim, Status: Finished and documented, Notes:

module=plotting (general) ($\beta$)

: plotting capabilities from within Glish.

• gplot1d: high-level plotting widget : Responsible person: John/Paul, Status: Done, Notes: object-style interface written by Tim, some questions over running more than one at once.
• tkpgplot: a tk widget allowing PGPLOT format calls : Responsible person: Yanti, Status: Started Sept 3, due to be finished mid December. Better interface will probably have to wait until the LPR., Notes:

module=mathematical ($\beta$)

: various mathematical operations:

• statistics, FFT/Convolution/shift, fit polynomials,
• fit 1 and 2-d gaussians.
• ``IMFIT'' like fitter.

: Responsible person: Brian, Status: All done and documented except fitting, Notes: Fitting deferred.

module=display ($\beta$)

: allows display of images and arrays from within Glish:

• display:=displayobject(command, logger);
• display.image(image);
• display.array(array);
• region:=display.getregion(ID);
• editmaskimage(image, maskimage);
• aipsview: support for AIPS++ images and coordinates
• initialization better e.g. contour levels

: Responsible person: Tim, Status: Initial version done and documented, Notes: Used in imager.g

module=utility ($\beta$)

• utility:=utilityobject(logger);
• filename:=utility.choosefile(initialfilename, prompt);
• status:=utility.shellcmd(command, async=F, log=T);
• All functions previously in gmisc

: Responsible person: Tim, Status: Initial version in place and documented, Notes: Will fill up as time goes on

package=synthesis

module=input/output (LPR)

: Fillers to a MeasurementSet. These are site priorities rather than project wide.

• atload : Responsible person: Mark W, Status: Initial version done, Notes: Needs more use.
• bimafiller : Responsible person: Peter, Status: Due Dec 1, Notes:
• vlafiller : Responsible person: Gareth, Status: Inactive, Notes: Needs someone with some time
• uvfitsfiller : Responsible person: Mark W, Status: Done, Notes: Available as uvfits2ms global function
• wsrtfiller : Responsible person: Friso, Status: Prototype done, new version due, Notes:

module=imager

: imager is an application object that provides access to the synthesis processing in AIPS++. It is a glish closure object with inputs, logging.

• improved performance ($\beta$)
• control panel GUI including integrated editing (LPR)
• improved interactive flagging ($\beta$)
• improved documentation ($\beta$)

We also need to make changes to the distributed objects used in imager.

• all DOs:
  • multi-IF ($\beta$)
  • spectral line ($\beta$) : Responsible person: Mark W, Status: Due Dec 1, Notes: Will also improve performance
• flagger:
  • finish various approachs ($\beta$) : Responsible person: Jan, Status: In progress, Notes:
• calibrater:
  • cross calibration ($\beta$)
  • cal tables: define format, attach to MS, allow versioning (LPR)
  • faster gain solutions (LPR)
• imagemaker:
  • allow shifts of various sorts ($\beta$)
• imagesolver:
  • fit to beam ($\beta$)
  • phase shifts [using Measures if possible] ($\beta$)
  • faster gridding ($\beta$) : Responsible person: Sanjay, Status: Temporary version done 96/10/1. Needs better solution in long-term, Notes: .
  • gridding and FFTs for arbitrarily-sized images (LPR)
  • Clark Clean ($\beta$)
  • mosaicing (LPR)
  • Nonsymmetric Fourier plane sampling (LPR)
• weighter
  • robust weighting (LPR)

module=simulating

: msmaker makes an MS from scratch. A higher priority is to document corrupter: the inverse of the calibrater.

• msmaker.initialize (LPR)
• msmaker.set (LPR)
• msmaker.write (LPR)
• corrupter.initialize ($\beta$)
• corrupter.set ($\beta$)
• corrupter.corrupt ($\beta$)
• corrupter.write ($\beta$)

: Responsible person: Mark W, Status: DOs in place, Notes: Needs documentation and perhaps a glish closure object interface similar to imager.

Logistics

• Code-copping of user level functionality (including .g and .help files) has to be complete. We will move code into aips or synthesis or dish, etc. as appropriate : Responsible person: Ralph, Status: On-going, Notes:
• Alpha testing : Responsible person: Tim, Status: On-going, Notes:
• Selection of Beta Sites
  • We limit downloading to those we know about.
  • Consortium sites not yet involved (e.g. NRAO 12m)
  • Members of AIPS++ Scientific and Technical Advisory Group
  • Targeted astronomical programmers
  • A few friends chosen to provide good testing of astronomical applications (e.g. Groningen group, Grant Denn)
  : Responsible person: Tim, Status: Now getting started, Notes:
• Platforms supported: Gnu compiler on Solaris, HP/UX, SGI/IRIX, and Dec Alpha ($\beta$). For LPR, we will support Linux as well.
• Installation: For $\beta$, binaries and code tree and distribution of patches. For LPR, binaries and/or code development system.
• Distribution media: For $\beta$, ftp. For LPR, also CDROM. : Responsible person: Pat, Status: Not yet started, Notes:

Release V2

V2 should contain substantially more functionality than will be present in the LPR. With this release, it should be possible to go end-to-end on reducing data from most consortium telescopes. Scientific analysis should be aided by image analysis and visualization capabilities.

Goals

• Provide fully-featured functionality in a number of different areas: synthesis, image analysis, general tool-kit
• Provide sub-set of initial functionality in other areas: image visualization, VLBI processing, single dish,
• Provide stable environment for code development,
• Distribute contributed code. In the LPR, we should encourage submission of code for both incorporation into the code of AIPS++, and distribution as-is.

Contents

Here we show both new packages and additions to the packages delivered in the LPR.

package=aips

module=mathematics

:

• Optimization support
• Linear Algebra support (including deconvolution)

module=plotting (general)

: plotting capabilities from within Glish.

• Better plotting interface using tkpgplot

module=mathematical

: various mathematical operations:

• fit 1 and 2-d gaussians.
• ``IMFIT'' like fitter.

module=display

: allows display of images and arrays from within Glish. Supports new visualization toolkit. Allows visualization of n > 3 images.

• display.visualize(image);

package=dish

module=input/output

: Fillers to a MeasurementSet. These are site priorities rather than project wide.

• gbtfiller
• 12mfiller

module=sdcalc

: a gui-based glish app for analysis of single dish spectra data.

module=sdimager

: a package for single dish imaging e.g. On-The-Fly imaging, Beam-switching, etc.

package=synthesis

module=input/output

: Fillers to a MeasurementSet. These are site priorities rather than project wide.

• vlbafiller

module=imager

:

• improved performance
• state memory to minimize work
• multiple control panels for different contexts
• MEM and Pixons
• gridding and FFTs for arbitrarily-sized images
• wide-field
• multi-field processing
• Nonsymmetric Fourier plane sampling

module=simulating

: Full-up simulation of an observing procedure for some consortium telescopes.