21 lines
1.2 KiB
Plaintext
21 lines
1.2 KiB
Plaintext
PDL (``Perl Data Language'') gives standard Perl the ability to compactly store
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and speedily manipulate the large N-dimensional data arrays which are the bread
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and butter of scientific computing.
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PDL turns perl in to a free, array-oriented, numerical language similar to (but,
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we believe, better than) such commerical packages as IDL and MatLab. One can
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write simple perl expressions to manipulate entire numerical arrays all at once.
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For example, using PDL the perl variable $a can hold a 1024x1024 floating point
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image, it only takes 4MB of memory to store it and expressions like
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$a=sqrt($a)+2 manipulate the whole image in a few milliseconds.
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A simple interactive shell (perldl) is provided for use from the command line
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and a module (PDL) for use in perl scripts.
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The PDL distribution for Perl is free Software and provides extensive numerical
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and semi-numerical functionality with support for two- and three-dimensional
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visualisation as well as a variety of I/O formats. The goal is to allow PDL to
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interact with a variety of external numerical packages, graphics and
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visualisation systems. Easy interfacing to such systems is one of the core
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design features of PDL.
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