Practical IDL Programming

Rating:
Summary: Excellent practical guide to IDL
Review: If you're like me, you've probably been confused at times by the semantics of IDL. I've been using IDL for several years now and I still run into obstacles every now and then. What I needed was a book that went through the basics first (like a C or Fortran book) and then covered the really practical stuff like plotting, imaging, saving output etc. Liam Gumley has done a great job here in showing the reader how to put IDL to work. I also own Dave Fanning's book, and the two books complement each other nicely. However I'd have to give the edge to Practical IDL Programming for it's clear and straightforward explanation of IDL fundamentals, and for very clear and well explained example programs, many of which I now use every day.