[chuug] Programming Language and Libraries for Science

[Katherine Holcomb]

As somebody recommended, Python is an option, though if he's doing much
numerical work he could code that in Fortran 95 and use Pyfortran
(http://sourceforge.net/projects/pyfortran) or maybe something similar
like f2py to link them up.  Note: gcc 4.1 or higher (4.2 should be out
soon) is required for adequate gfortran.

However, Python does not do specialized graphics per se.  It's fairly
easy to make GUIs with it (for the controls) using an add-on like
Tkinter, but I don't know how easy it would be to draw lenses.  There
are various Python packages to produce conventional graphics (including
3D) but actual lens diagrams is more like the kind of thing a CAD
program would do.  There are some inexpensive CAD programs for Windows
(e.g. TurboCad) that are probably fine for "fooling around" but I know
of nothing for Linux.

On Sun, 2007-07-08 at 20:19 +0200, Christopher Covington wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> I've got a friend who is a retired optical engineer interested in
> programming applications with relative ease. He really like spin
> controls to alter input data for the physics-related graphs and
> diagrams that he is interested in producing. He has tried various
> languages through the years and firmly believes that Fortran 95 is the
> best language for programming physical stuff, with its easy vector
> operations and the like. The downside is that he never was able to
> easily code graphics like he wanted using it.
> 
> The question is whether y'all can recommend a programming language
> (+libraries) that is handy for fooling around with physics equations,
> has widgets and can produce pretty graphs and diagrams of mutilated
> trigonomic functions or a series of lenses. Inexpensive is a must,
> free preferred. Plus-points for cross-platform.
> 
> Regards,
> Chris
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-- 
Katherine Holcomb, Ph.D.                kholcomb at virginia.edu
Research Computing Support Group - ITC  Office Phone: (434) 982-5948
I046 BSEL, Clark Hall                    Center Phone: (434) 243-8799
University of Virginia 22904