JULY 28--Research Systems Inc. (RSI; Boulder, CO; www.RSInc.com) has released IDL version 6.0, which offers significant enhancements in the areas of flexibility and ease of use. "The feedback we've received from customers is that the new features of IDL 6.0 are enhancements they can take advantage of right out of the box," said Richard Cooke, president and COO of RSI. "All of the new enhancements enable current and new IDL users to perform data analysis and visualization more quickly and easily than ever before."
Among the new features in IDL 6.0 is IDL Virtual Machine (IDL VM)--a free runtime utility that provides a simple, no-cost method for IDL users and software developers to distribute compiled IDL code. Novice and advanced software developers alike can now distribute IDL code, applets or entire applications without additional runtime licensing or runtime license fees. Because IDL code is platform-portable, users can write applications once and deploy their application and user interface code across multiple computing environments.
IDL VM is available for all IDL-supported platforms, including Windows, Linux, Mac OS X, and the Unix operating systems. As IDL VM can exist without an IDL license and run without the IDL development environment, it can be downloaded from the RSI Web site.
Another feature is iTools, a new set of interactive utilities that gives IDL users the power to quickly and easily perform ad hoc data analysis and visualization and produce presentation-quality graphics. Based on the robust Object Graphics system, iTools helps IDL users get the most out of their data with minimal effort.
