Abstract
This chapter is a quick introduction to using Interactive Data Language (IDL) for interactive calculations. The goal of this chapter is to get started using IDL, entering interactive commands, and plotting graphs. The following IDL procedures and functions are used in this chapter: (1) PRINT procedure, (2) EXIT command, (3) continue executive command, (4) HELP procedure, (5) FINDGEN function, (6) LINDGEN function, (7) PLOT procedure, (8) WINDOW procedure, and (9) XSURFACE procedure. Before running IDL correctly several steps need to be followed. These include: (1) Installation and licensing of IDL. (2) Setting up the IDL environment so that the operating system cans find the main IDL program and related files. (3) Setting up the user's personal IDL directory and optionally install the example programs and data files from this book, and (4) setting the user preferences for IDL. This chapter guides the starting up of IDL, making simple calculations, and plotting of basic one- and two-dimensional graphs.
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