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i2py:  Convert IDL programs and scripts to Python

Author: Chris Stawarz <chris@pseudogreen.org>
Author: Tom Grydeland <tom.grydeland@norut.no>
Version 0.1.x
September, 2012
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INTRODUCTION
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i2py provides tools for converting programs and scripts written in Research
System Inc.'s IDL programming language to Python.  It is not an IDL-compatible
front end for the Python interpreter, nor does it make any attempt to replicate
the functionality of the IDL standard library.  Rather, its only purpose is to
perform source-to-source conversion of legacy IDL code to Python.  It supports
procedural IDL, with some support for object-oriented code, as long as it is
not too complex. More sophistication may be added in the future.

i2py is free software, distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public
License.  See the file COPYING for details.

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STATUS
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This is an alpha release of i2py.  Although the code is functional, not all IDL
language constructs can be converted yet, and the entire package needs
extensive testing and debugging before it will be ready for production use.

That said, if you're willing to try it out, any feedback (comments, bug
reports, patches) will be greatly appreciated.  Please e-mail it to
Chris Stawarz <chris@pseudogreen.org> or Tom Grydeland <tom.grydeland@norut.no>.

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REQUIREMENTS
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i2py requires Python 2.3 or later.  The package is written in pure Python, so
it should run on any system with an appropriate version of the Python
interpreter installed.

i2py uses the excellent PLY package (http://www.dabeaz.com/ply/) to handle
lexing and parsing.  The needed modules are distributed with i2py, so there is
no need to install PLY separately.

The scripts produced by i2py require one of the array packages available for
Python.  Currently, Numpy is the default.  For a discussion of the various
packages available, see http://numeric.scipy.org/.

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INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS
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To install the package, all you should need to do is

  python setup.py install

See "Installing Python Modules" (http://docs.python.org/inst/inst.html) for
more information on using setup.py scripts.

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FOR MORE INFORMATION
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Web site:
  http://software.pseudogreen.org/i2py/

IDL to Numeric/numarray Mapping:
  http://www.johnny-lin.com/cdat_tips/tips_array/idl2num.html

Related software:
  Numerical Python:	http://numeric.scipy.org/
  PLY:			http://www.dabeaz.com/ply/
  Python:		http://python.org/