The NOAO IRAF group held an open user meeting at the San Diego AAS meeting in June 1998. Representatives of the STScI STSDAS and the AXAF software groups also were present to meet with users and answer their questions. The motivation for the meeting was to solicit user input and feedback on future directions for IRAF, since a large multi-year effort to develop a major new version of IRAF is just getting started.
An overview of the current status and the future directions ("Open IRAF") for the IRAF system were described by George Jacoby. Andrea Prestwich, chair of the IRAF User's Committee (IUC), presented a summary of the IUC meeting held at NOAO in May 1998.
The discussion with those present centered on the following questions:
Do scientists find sufficient value in error arrays to justify the computer time and storage space needed to carry them along with the science data arrays? [there was no consensus---some use error arrays, but others don't]
Are GUI interfaces for existing IRAF tasks more valuable than developing new software? [again, there was no clear consensus, but many felt strongly that GUIs were not a critical item while others felt strongly that they were]
What new science software do people wish they had? [some responses included an IDL-like toolbox, better Fourier transform support, true-color image support]
If you have questions or comments on the short- and long-term directions for IRAF, feel free to contact George Jacoby, Project Scientist for NOAO IRAF (gjacoby@noao.edu), or Andrea Prestwich, chair of the IUC (prestwich@cfa.harvard.edu).
George Jacoby, IRAF Project Scientist