IDL provides specialized image processing procedures through SolarSoft. Java provides a good programming framework and database access. The combination of the two makes sense. ITT provides a way to call IDL from Java and Java from IDL, through their "Bridge". At the High Altitude Observatory (par... Show moreIDL provides specialized image processing procedures through SolarSoft. Java provides a good programming framework and database access. The combination of the two makes sense. ITT provides a way to call IDL from Java and Java from IDL, through their "Bridge". At the High Altitude Observatory (part of the National Center for Atmospheric Research), we have developed code to make use of this in a general fashion. Java code drives the pipeline, for file management, date calculations, catalogin metadata. IDL is used for small, instrument-specific calculations. Instrument scientists can develop small code modules to drop into a modern framework developed using modern software engineering methods. Show less
