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<!doctype html public "-//w3c//dtd html 4.0 transitional//en">
<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
<meta name="Author" content="Ansley Manke">
<meta name="GENERATOR" content="Mozilla/4.75 [en] (WinNT; U) [Netscape]">
<title>v53</title>
</head>
<body>
<h1>
Ferret Version 5.3 and Version 5.4 Release Notes</h1>
<h2>
New in Version 5.3</h2>
<ul>
<li>
<a href="#alpha-level string">Alpha-level support for string variables</a></li>
<li>
<a href="#calendar axes">Support for non-Gregorian calendar axes</a></li>
<li>
<a href="#capture unix shell output">Output from Unix shell commands may
be captured in Ferret</a></li>
<li>
<a href="#date/time symbols">New automatically defined symbols for date
and time</a></li>
<li>
<a href="#xboxlo,xboxhi">New pseudo-variables reveal grid cell bounds</a></li>
<li>
<a href="#show axis">SHOW AXIS (and SHOW GRID/[axis]) enhanced</a></li>
<li>
<a href="#show grid arguments">SHOW GRID, SET GRID, DEFINE GRID/LIKE= and
SET VAR/GRID= can take expressions as arguments</a></li>
<li>
<a href="#expressions formatting">Immediate mode (grave accent) expressions
formatting</a></li>
<li>
<a href="#nrst">Nearest coordinate regridding transformation @NRST</a></li>
<li>
<a href="#symbols in repeat loops">Ferret symbols (e.g. "($symbol)") used
inside REPEAT loops are now re-translated at each repetition of the loop</a></li>
<li>
<a href="#multi-line">Multi-line commands (continuation lines)</a></li>
<li>
<a href="#command buffer length">The length of the command buffer is increased
to 2048 characters</a></li>
<li>
<a href="#return arguments">New immediate mode RETURN arguments: RETURN=DSET,
DSETNUM, DSETPATH, BAD</a></li>
<li>
<a href="#99args">Up to 99 arguments for GO commands using either $nn or
($nn) syntax</a></li>
<li>
<a href="#EVN">New transformation @EVNT ("event mask")</a></li>
<li>
<a href="#setvar/name">Added SET VARIABLE/NAME=</a></li>
<li>
<a href="#NetCDF modulo">NetCDF time axes encoded as year 0000 or 0001
are automatically flagged as modulo</a></li>
<br>
<li>
<a href="#animate on the fly">Ability to animate on the fly</a></li>
<li>
<a href="#flowline">FLOWLINE command draws continuous flowlines from vector
components</a></li>
<li>
<a href="#plot/step">Step function plots</a></li>
<li>
<a href="#log axes">New PLOT qualifiers /VLOG and /HLOG set log axis for
plots.</a></li>
<br>
<li>
<a href="#delimited files">Ability to read "delimited" files (e.g. Excel
spreadsheet outputs)</a></li>
<li>
<a href="#MC checking">Enhanced ability to associate time series files
into a MC (multi-CDF) data set</a></li>
<li>
<a href="#save/append">Performance of netCDF "SAVE/APPEND ..." greatly
increased for large file output</a></li>
<li>
<a href="#windows files">Support for command files created by Windows (embedded
CR characters)</a></li>
<li>
<a href="#ef utility for custom axes">More external functions utility calls
may be made during custom axis creation</a></li>
<li>
<a href="#zaxreplace">New functions ZAXREPLACE_AVG and ZAXREPLACE_BIN</a></li>
<li>
<a href="#eofargs">Arguments to EOF functions changed</a></li>
</ul>
<h2>
New in Version 5.4</h2>
<ul>
<li>
<a href="#strings">Support for string variables</a></li>
<li>
<a href="#modulo strides">Strides can be applied across the "branch point"
of a modulo variable</a></li>
<li>
<a href="#nesting go files">Nesting of GO files no longer limited to 10
deep.</a></li>
<li>
<a href="#exit qualifiers">New qualifiers EXIT/LOOP, EXIT/SCRIPT, EXIT/PROMPT,
EXIT/PROGRAM</a></li>
<li>
<a href="#define view/axes">New qualifier /AXES for DEFINE VIEW</a></li>
<li>
<a href="#dashed lines">Control of dashed lines with PLOT/DASH=</a></li>
<li>
<a href="#memsize">Doubled the default memory to 6.4 Mwords</a></li>
<li>
<a href="#ppl memory buffer">Plotting is no longer limited by a fixed plot
memory buffer</a></li>
<li>
<a href="#plot/axes">New plot qualifier /AXES[=top,bottom,left,right] turns
plotting of individual axes off and on</a></li>
<li>
<a href="#sym=dot">New PLOT/SYMBOL=DOT</a></li>
<li>
<a href="#compress_by">New functions COMPRESS_BY compress data according
to a mask</a></li>
<li>
<a href="#list heading">Modified heading output of LIST command</a></li>
<li>
<a href="#list/width">New qualifier: LIST/WIDTH=columns</a></li>
<li>
<a href="#/title">Allow SET DATA/TITLE= for NetCDF, DODS datasets</a></li>
</ul>
<h2>
Bug Fixes in Version 5.3</h2>
<ul>
<li>
Buffer size increase allows STAT to handle larger summaries</li>
<li>
Allow External functions using FORTRAN complex variables</li>
<li>
Bug fix in EF framework: didn't handle custom axes if EF had more than
one argument</li>
<li>
Ferret does not crash if a segmentation fault occurs within an external
function</li>
<li>
Distinct axes that were dynamic and irregular were not always recognized
as different</li>
<li>
Permutation error when multiple variables of differing shape are written
at once</li>
<li>
SAVE used on a subset of an irregular axis did not write cell boundaries
into the output file</li>
<li>
MODE VERIFY output is suppressed for lines skipped due to IF-THEN-ELSE</li>
<li>
Scaling bugs fixed in scripts polytube.jnl and polymark.jnl</li>
<li>
Auto-labelling of axes improved when many digits are needed (e.g. scale
from 1020 to 1021)</li>
<li>
Allow filenames to include commas (if name is enclosed in quotations) (needed
for DODS constrained URLs)</li>
<li>
Limit on string lengths fixed (e.g. long DODS filenames)</li>
<li>
Bug fixed in the journal script right_axis_plot.jnl</li>
<li>
EOF functions had inconsistency in treatment of bad-data flags.</li>
<li>
DEFINE AXIS/FROM failed to check if n=1</li>
<li>
DEFINE AXIS where n=1 gave bogus box limits</li>
<li>
SAMPLEXY function works on fields with modulo axes.</li>
<li>
The length of the buffer for the LEVELS qualifier (i.e. for SHADE or CONTOUR)
has been increased from 80 to 1028 characters.</li>
<li>
Mixed regridding gx=sst and y=lo:hi:del could ignore the lo:hi:del</li>
<li>
STAT command applied to values all greater than 1.E34</li>
<li>
Allow British spelling "metre"</li>
<li>
Detect extra colon in "i=1:5:2:"</li>
<li>
SCAT2GRIDGAUSS* and SCAT2GRIDLAPLACE* functions allow input to be
function of both time and the spatial dimension not being gridded, e.g.
SCAT2GRIDGAUSS_XY grids in XY a function of time and/or depth.</li>
<li>
Bug related to region information left after a REPEAT loop</li>
</ul>
<h2>
Bug Fixes in Version 5.4</h2>
<ul>
<li>
PLOT+ command "list yaxis" now says "YORG+" (instead of "XORG="</li>
<li>
Negative times improperly formatted on output</li>
<li>
Data set names may begin with digits</li>
<li>
Strings sent to PLOT+ label commands via "LABEL" may contain single quotes</li>
<li>
No longer output documentation on data set for, e.g., let fcn = SIN(T[gt=tax]/10);
plot t[g=fcn]</li>
<li>
SET VAR/NAME= allowed duplicate variable names</li>
<li>
VECTOR plotting improved for curvilinear coordinate plots. VECTOR/LENGTH
works.</li>
<li>
Plotting bug in version 5.33 fixed: first two points weren't connected</li>
<li>
Contour levels bug: In the sequence <i>SHADE var; CONTOUR/OVER/LEV var</i>
levels weren't properly set by SHADE command</li>
<li>
Fix format problem when listing negative subscripts on modulo axes</li>
<li>
LET VAR2 = VAR1[d={this is limited to less than 40 characters}]</li>
<li>
Line plot bug where first point in a line plot was left off, and where
plot/vs gave a connecting line without /LINE</li>
</ul>
<h2>
Improved error messages</h2>
<ul>
<li>
During axis definition "unknown axis units" is replaced by "units are not
subject to auto-conversion"</li>
<li>
Improved error message for unknown function "LET b = UNKNOWN(a)"</li>
<li>
Remove annoying warning about unknown axis units during FFTA and other
dynamic axes</li>
<li>
<font size=+0>When user doesn't specify limits on ABSTRACT axis say
NOTE: Check for unspecified limits on an ABSTRACT axis instead of NOTE:
You can use SET MEMORY/SIZE=xxx to increase memory</font></li>
<li>
<font size=+0>Longer dataset name allowed for commands such as LET Var2=var1[d=data_set_name]</font></li>
</ul>
<h2>
<a NAME="New Features and"></a>New Features and Enhancements:</h2>
<h3>
<a NAME="alpha-level string"></a>Alpha-level support for string variables</h3>
<blockquote>NOTE: See significant additions to capabilities in <a href="#strings">V5.4</a></blockquote>
<h3>
<a NAME="calendar axes"></a>Support for non-Gregorian calendar axes</h3>
<blockquote>The NetCDF conventions document discusses and defines usage
for different calendar axes. See:
<br><a href="http://www.cgd.ucar.edu/cms/eaton/netcdf/merge_current.html#cal">http://www.cgd.ucar.edu/cms/eaton/netcdf/merge_current.html#cal</a>
<p>The NetCDF conventions recommend that the calendar be specified by the
attribute <b>calendar</b> which is assigned to the time coordinate variable.
These conventions for calendars are implemented in Ferret version 5.3
The calendars defined are: Gregorian (the default), noleap (365 day years),
Julian (every four years is leap year), 360day (years are 360 days divided
into 30-day months). These calendars are compatible with the Udunits
standard which has slightly different naming conventions.
<br>NetCDF files use the attribute time:calendar when there is a non-Gregorian
calendar associated with a data set, i.e.
<br> <tt>time:calendar=noleap</tt>
<p><tt>Example: </tt>Define a calendar axis, regrid an existing variable
to this axis:
<br><tt>yes? DEFINE AXIS/CALENDAR=360DAY/T="15-JAN-1982":"15-DEC-1985":30/UNITS=days
tmodel</tt>
<br><tt>yes? LET twind = uwnd[GT=tmodel@NRST]</tt>
<p>When regridding from one calendar axis to another the length of a year
is assumed to be constant, therefore the regridding calculates a scale
factor based on the length of a second in each calendar, computed from
the number of seconds per year for the calendars.</blockquote>
<h3>
<br>
<a NAME="capture unix shell output"></a>Output from Unix shell commands
may be captured in Ferret</h3>
As with this example.
<p><tt> yes? let a = {system:"ls"}</tt>
<br><tt> yes? list a</tt>
<br><tt>
{SYSTEM:"ls"}</tt>
<br><tt> 1 / 1:"TutorialModels98.zip"</tt>
<br><tt> 2 / 2:"ferret.jnl"</tt>
<br><tt> 3 / 3:"movies.zip"</tt>
<br><tt> 4 / 4:"movies1.zip"</tt>
<br><tt> 5 / 5:"movies2.zip"</tt>
<br><tt> 6 / 6:"movies3.zip"</tt>
<br><tt> 7 / 7:"roseent8054c_timelocked2.exe"</tt>
<br><tt> 8 / 8:"tutorial.zip"</tt>
<br>
<h3>
<a NAME="date/time symbols"></a>New automatically defined symbols for date
and time</h3>
<ul>
<li>
($SESSION_DATE)</li>
<li>
($SESSION_TIME)</li>
</ul>
<h3>
<a NAME="xboxlo,xboxhi"></a>New pseudo-variables reveal grid cell bounds</h3>
<blockquote>XBOXLO, XBOXHI, YBOXLO, ... reveal the grid cell lower and
upper bounds explicitly</blockquote>
<h3>
<a NAME="show axis"></a>SHOW AXIS (and SHOW GRID/[axis]) enhanced</h3>
<blockquote>enhanced to show lower bound of each grid cell</blockquote>
<a NAME="show grid arguments"></a><b><font size=+1>SHOW GRID, SET GRID,
DEFINE GRID/LIKE= and SET VAR/GRID= can take expressions
as arguments</font></b>
<h3>
<a NAME="expressions formatting"></a>Immediate mode (grave accent) expressions
formatting</h3>
<blockquote>These may be formatted with w=width or zw=zero-filled width.
For example
<p><tt>yes? SAY Answer: `5.3,w=8`</tt>
<br><tt>Answer: 5.3</tt>
<br><tt>yes? SAY Answer: `5.3,zw=8`</tt>
<br><tt>Answer: 000005.3</tt></blockquote>
<h3>
<a NAME="nrst"></a>Nearest coordinate regridding transformation @NRST</h3>
<blockquote>Nearest coordinate regridding VAR[GX=newaxis@NRST] chooses
the value from the source axis coordinate closest to the destination axis.
If source coordinates above and below are equally close to a destination
coordinate the value at the lower coordinate will be chosen. (This
is most useful for regridding between axes whose coordinate values are
very close, though not exactly matched -- e.g. between equally and unequally
spaced monthly time axes.)</blockquote>
<h3>
<a NAME="symbols in repeat loops"></a>Ferret symbols (e.g. "($symbol)")
that are used inside of REPEAT loops are now re-translated at each repetition
of the loop</h3>
<h3>
<a NAME="multi-line"></a>Multi-line commands (continuation lines)</h3>
<blockquote>Command lines ending with back slash are regarded as incomplete
-- a special prompt is given to indicate that the next line is a continuation
.
<p>Example:
<br><tt>yes? let a = 123 + 456 + \</tt>
<br><tt>...? 789</tt>
<br><tt>yes? list a</tt>
<br><tt>
123 + 456 + 789</tt>
<br><tt> 1368.</tt>
<br> </blockquote>
<a NAME="command buffer length"></a><b><font size=+1>The length of the
command buffer is increased to 2048 characters</font></b>
<h3>
<a NAME="return arguments"></a>New immediate mode RETURN arguments</h3>
<ul>
<li>
RETURN=DSET, DSETNUM, DSETPATH to recover data set information from
an expression</li>
<li>
RETURN=BAD to recover the missing value flag from an expression</li>
</ul>
<h3>
<a NAME="99args"></a>Up to 99 arguments for Go commands using either $nn
or ($nn) syntax</h3>
<ul>The syntax $nn (nn may be 1 through 99) is equivalent to to ($nn),
however the parentheses enclosed form is generally preferred as it avoids
ambiguities:
<ul>
<li>
<tt>XSEQUENCE($1)</tt> will be misinterpreted whereas <tt>XSEQUENCE(($1))</tt>
is clear</li>
<li>
<tt>($1)2.dat</tt> will substitute argument 1 as a prefix to <tt>"2.dat"</tt>
and <tt>($12).dat</tt> will substitute argument 12 as a prefix to <tt>".dat"</tt>.
Specifying <tt>$12.dat</tt> is equivalent to <tt>($12).dat</tt> but is
less clear.</li>
</ul>
</ul>
<h3>
<a NAME="EVN"></a>New transformation @EVNT ("event mask")<tt>.</tt></h3>
<ul>This transformation locates "events" in data. An event is the occurrence
of a particular value. The output steps up by a value of 1 for each event,
starting from a value of zero. (If the variable takes on exactly the value
of the event trigger the +1 step occurs on that point. If it crosses
the value, either ascending or descending, the step occurs on the first
point after the crossing.)
<p>For example, if you wanted to know the maximum value of the second wave,
where (say) rising above a magnitude of 0.1 in variable "ht" represented
the onset of a wave, then
<p><tt> yes? let wave2_mask = IF ht[T=@evnt:0.1] EQ 2 THEN
1</tt>
<p><tt>is a mask for the second wave, only. The maximum waveheight may
be found with</tt>
<p><tt> yes? let wave2_ht = wave2_mask * ht</tt>
<br><tt> yes? let wave2_max_ht = wave2_ht[T=@max]</tt>
<p>Note that @EVNT can be used together with @LOC and @WEQ to determine
the location when an event occurs and the value of other variables as the
event occurs, respectively. Since there may be missing values in the data,
and since the instant at which the event occurs may lie immediately before
the step in value for the event mask, the following expression is a general
solution.
<p><tt> yes? let event_mask = my_var[t=@evnt:<value>]</tt>
<br><tt> yes? let event_n = IF ABS(MISSING(event_mask[L=@SBX],event_mask)-n)
LE 0.67 THEN</tt>
<br><tt> my_var</tt>
<p>So that
<br><tt> event_n[t=@loc:<value>] is the
time at which event "n" occurs</tt>
<br>and
<br><tt> event_n[t=@weq:<value>] is the
integrating kernel (see @WEQ)</tt></ul>
<h3>
<a NAME="setvar/name"></a>Added SET VARIABLE/NAME=</h3>
<blockquote>This is effectively a RENAME command -- applies to all classes
of variables (not pseudo-variables). Useful for "repairing" variables whose
definitions are inadequate as-is but whose variable names are significant.
A common application of this is in creating output netCDF files in which
contain modified versions of variables from input files.</blockquote>
<a NAME="NetCDF modulo"></a><b><font size=+1>NetCDF time axes encoded as
year 0000 or 0001 are automatically flagged as modulo</font></b>
<h3>
<a NAME="animate on the fly"></a>Ability to animate on the fly</h3>
<blockquote><tt>REPEAT/ANIMATE[/LOOP=n]</tt>
<br>is used to start an animation sequence. Given LOOP=n, the animation
sequence will repeat n times.
<p>Example:
<br><tt> yes? set data coads_climatology</tt>
<br><tt> yes? repeat/l=1:12/animate/loop=5 (shade sst;
go fland)</tt>
<p>Known bug/feature: It is necessary to execute some other plot
before animating. Otherwise, the first time through the animation,
the graphics window remains blank. This restriction will be lifted
in the official V5.3 release.
<p>NOTE: In order to properly display on SGI's, it is necessary to have
backing store enabled for the Xserver.
<br> </blockquote>
<h3>
<a NAME="flowline"></a><font size=+1>FLOWLINE command draws "flowlines"
from vector components</font></h3>
<blockquote>(in beta versions this was named STREAKLINE). A new qualifier
to the VECTOR command VECTOR/FLOWLINE (alias FLOWLINE) draws continuous
flowlines from the vector components U and V. The qualifier
/DENSITY controls the number of lines drawn. There is also a 4-argument
form of this command for drawing flowlines in curvilinear coordinates.
<b>Note
that Ferret does not compute a stream function, but draws a pathline integration
of a 2-dimensional instantaneous flow field. In a 3-dimensional
flow field the plots are only useful as a qualitative visualization tool</b>.
<p>Example:
<br><tt>yes? USE coads_climatology</tt>
<br><tt>yes? SET REGION/x=150e:130w/y=40s:50n/l=6</tt>
<br><tt>yes? FLOW/DENSITY=4 uwnd,vwnd</tt>
<p>The underlying algorithm is used with permission from the GrADS program.
Our thanks to COLA, the Center for Ocean-Land-Atmosphere Studies, for access
to this technique.</blockquote>
<h3>
<a NAME="plot/step"></a>Step function plots</h3>
<blockquote>PLOT/STEP and PLOT/STEP=connected
<br>These qualifiers give a plot style that is consistent with grid cell
interpretation of data. Especially useful for time series to show the span
of each time bin.</blockquote>
<blockquote> </blockquote>
<h3>
<a NAME="log axes"></a>New PLOT qualifiers /VLOG and /HLOG set log axes
for plots.</h3>
<ul>/VLOG sets a vertical log axis, /HLOG sets a horizontal log axis. If
/VLIMITS or /HLIMITS is specified, they should be in data units (not log10
axis units). If the axis is a depth axis, an inverse log axis
is drawn.
<p>Note that setting axtype with a PPLUS call before the plot call will
not result in a log plot, though making an axtype setting with PLOT/SET_UP
still works as in previous versions.
<p>new syntax:
<br><tt> yes? PLOT/VLOG/VLIMITS=10:1000 my_ fcn
! plots a function on a log axis</tt>
<p>replaces older syntax:
<br> yes? ppl axtype 1, 3
<br> yes? PLOT/VLIMITS=1:3 my_fcn
! This will NOT produce a log plot, as the
<br>
! PLOT command resets the status of the axes.
<br>
<p> yes? PLOT/SET_UP/vlimits=1:3
my_fcn ! These commands duplicates the new syntax.
<br> yes? ppl axtype, 1, 3
<br> yes? ppl plot
<br> </ul>
<h3>
<a NAME="delimited files"></a>Ability to read "delimited" files (e.g. Excel
spreadsheet outputs)</h3>
<blockquote><tt>SET DATA/FORMAT=DELIMITED[/DELIMITERS=][/TYPE=][/VAR=]
filename</tt>
<p>initializes a file of mixed numerical, string, and date fields. If the
data types are not specified the file will be analyzed automatically to
determine data types. Using delimited files, the number of variables that
can be read from a single file is increased from 20 to 100.
<p>/DELIMITER - list of field delimiters. Default is tab or comma
e.g. /DELIM="X,\t,\,"
<br>special characters include
<blockquote>
<li>
\b - blank</li>
<li>
\t - tab</li>
<li>
\n - newline</li>
<li>
\nnn - decimal value from ASCII table</li>
</blockquote>
/TYPE is the list of data types of the fields. Field types may be any of
<blockquote>
<li>
"-" - skipped</li>
<li>
NUMERIC</li>
<li>
TEXT</li>
<li>
LATITUDE - e.g. 87S or 21.5N (interpreted as negative or positive,
respectively)</li>
<li>
LONGITUDE - e.g. 160W or 30E (interpreted as negative or positive, respectively)</li>
<li>
DATE - e.g. mm/dd/yy or mm/dd/yyyy or yyyy-mm-dd or yyyymmdd - value returned
is days from 1-jan-1900 (consistent with the DAYS1900 function)</li>
<br>EURODATE - e.g. dd/mm/yy or dd/mm/yyyy or yyyy-mm-dd TIME - e.g. hh:mm
or hh:mm:ss.s</blockquote>
</blockquote>
<h3>
<a NAME="MC checking"></a>Enhanced ability to associate time series files
into a MC (multi-CDF) data set</h3>
<blockquote>Previous to version 5.2 Ferret performs sanity checking on
an MC data set by comparing the time coordinates with those found in the
data files as the data are read. In version 5.3 and higher no sanity
checks are performed. This means that the MC descriptor mechanism can be
used to associate into time series groups of files that are not internally
self documenting with respect to time, however, it also shifts an additional
burden onto the user of carefully checking the validity of the STEPFILE
records in the descriptor files. Also note there is enhanced
documentation of MC descriptors in the Users Guide, Chapter 10 sec 4.</blockquote>
<a NAME="save/append"></a><b><font size=+1>Performance of netCDF "SAVE/APPEND
..." greatly increased for large file output</font></b>
<p><a NAME="windows files"></a><b><font size=+1>Support for command files
created by Windows (embedded CR characters)</font></b>
<blockquote>Files written by Windows software have embedded carriage return
characters. Journal files with this formatting can now be read by
Ferret.</blockquote>
<h3>
<a NAME="ef utility for custom axes"></a>External functions utility calls
may be made during custom axis creation</h3>
<ul>
<li>
<b>ef_get_one_val</b> can be called to obtain constant values
during custom axis creation</li>
<li>
<b>ef_get_string</b> can be called
to obtain a string value during custom axis creation</li>
</ul>
<a NAME="zaxreplace"></a><b><font size=+1>New functions ZAXREPLACE_AVG
and ZAXREPLACE_BIN</font></b>
<blockquote>These functions are similar to ZAXREPLACE but use other regridding
methods to replace a Z axis
<p>ZAXREPLACE_AVG(V,ZVALS,ZAX)
<br>Use weighted averaging to convert between alternative monotonic Z axes.
The weighting is done according to the portion of the source box that lies within
the destination grid cell.
<p>ZAXREPLACE_BIN(V,ZVALS,ZAX)
<br>Use unweighted averaging to convert between alternative monotonic Z
axes. The function finds the source points within each destination box and averages them.</blockquote>
<a NAME="eofargs"></a><b><font size=+1>Arguments to EOF functions changed.</font></b>
<p>The second argument in previous versions has been removed. This argument had the
functions scale and return only EOF spatial and time functions
up to a given percent variance explained. However this didn't save much
computation. The functions now return all the EOF's.
<pre>
yes? SHOW FUNCTION eof_*
EOF_SPACE(A,frac_timeser)
Compute EOF spacial fields from XYT field
A: Variable in x,y,t; may be fcn of z
frac_timeser: Use only those time series with this fraction valid data
EOF_STAT(A,frac_timeser)
EOF statistics from XYT field. j=1:#EOFs, j=2:%variation,j=3:eigenvalues
A: Variable in x,y,t; may be fcn of z
frac_timeser: Use only those time series with this fraction valid data
EOF_TFUNC(A,frac_timeser)
Compute EOF time functions from XYT field.
A: Variable in x,y,t; may be fcn of z
frac_timeser: Use only those time series with this fraction valid data</pre><br>
<p><a NAME="strings"></a><b><font size=+1>Support for string variables</font></b>
<p> yes? LET a = {"s1","s2", ,"s3"}
<br> yes? LIST a
<br> yes? SAVE/CLOBBER/FILE=test_string.cdf/HEADING=enhanced
a[i=2:4]
<br> yes? LIST a[i=@shf]
<ul>
<li>
Strings in an array may be variable length</li>
<br>
<li>
The syntax {"a","b","c"} denotes an array of strings. Two commas
in a row denotes a null (missing value) string. Single and double quoted
strings are both allowed.</li>
<br>
<li>
Algebraic operations:</li>
<ul>
<li>
Logical operators EQ, LT, LE, ... These operators are case-insensitive
(functions will be provided later that are case-sensitive and include UPCASE,
DNCASE)</li>
<li>
@SHF</li>
<li>
IF cond THEN string_array1 ELSE string_array2</li>
<li>
Concatenation with "+": a = "good" + "bye"</li>
<li>
SAMPLE* functions may take string or numerical arrays as arguments</li>
<li>
Regridding with @ASN, @XACT, @NRST</li>
<br> </ul>
<li>
Input and output to netCDF files. In the file the string axis is
the fastest moving dimension and all strings are the same length (equal
to the maximum length of the strings being written). Extra character spaces
are padded with nulls. If variable length strings are written out, then
when read back they will again be variable length.</li>
<br>
<li>
Function SPAWN executes a Unix system command and returns the result in
a string array.</li>
<br>
<li>
The syntax "SPAWN:"command" allows the output of a Unix command to be mixed
with other strings. For example,</li>
<br> LET a = {"first.nc", SPAWN:"ls
*.nc","last.nc"}
<br>
<li>
Internally all variables now have data types</li>
<br>
<li>
Grave accents around a scalar string variable return the string</li>
<br>
<li>
(alpha) can create external functions where arguments may be either string
or float -- e.g. "var" in SAMPLEI(var, indices)</li>
<br>
<li>
(alpha) functions can return strings (e.g. SPAWN)</li>
</ul>
<a NAME="modulo strides"></a><b><font size=+1>Strides can be applied across
the "branch point" of a modulo variable</font></b>
<blockquote>Strides can be applied across the "branch point" of a modulo
variable without loss of efficiency for netCDF data set, as long as the
stride is an integer fraction of the modulo length* (the number of points
on the axis)</blockquote>
<a NAME="nesting go files"></a><b><font size=+1>Nesting of GO files is
no longer limited to 10 deep.</font></b>
<blockquote>Ferret now supports up to 200 deep, but typically you will
limited to fewer by Unix itself.</blockquote>
<a NAME="exit qualifiers"></a><b><font size=+1>New qualifiers EXIT/LOOP,
EXIT/SCRIPT, EXIT/PROMPT, EXIT/PROGRAM</font></b>
<blockquote><tt>EXIT/LOOP exit from
current repeat loop</tt>
<br><tt>EXIT/SCRIPT exit from current script</tt>
<br><tt>EXIT/PROMPT exit to Ferret prompt</tt>
<br><tt>EXIT/PROGRAM exit program completely</tt>
<p>"QUIT" in a command file is an alias for EXIT without a qualifier.
It will exit the current script, or the program if you are at the Ferret
prompt.</blockquote>
<p><br><a NAME="define view/axes"></a><b><font size=+1>New option for defining
viewports, DEFINE VIEW/AXES</font></b>
<blockquote>Here the user's limits are interpreted as the normalized positions
of the plot axes rather than of the entire viewport. For example:
<blockquote><tt>yes? DEFINE VIEWPORT/AXES/XLIM=0.5:1/YLIM=0:0.5 lrax</tt>
<br><tt>yes? SET VIEW lrax</tt>
<br><tt>yes? PLOT/VS/LINE/I=1:314 i*cos(i/20),i*sin(i/20); pause</tt>
<br><tt>yes? PLOT/VS/LINE/NOYADJUST/I=1:314 i*cos(i/20),i*sin(i/20)</tt></blockquote>
</blockquote>
<ul>
<li>
Can change PPL ORIGIN and PPL AXLEN only <i>after</i> SET VIEW is issued</li>
<li>
Use new qualifier PLOT/NOYADJUST to avoid resetting the Y origin -- relevant
during PLOT commands that require extra room for a large key block under
the axes or for viewports that lie close to the bottom of the window where
there may not be much room below the Y axis</li>
</ul>
<a NAME="memsize"></a><b><font size=+1>Doubled the default memory to 6.4
Mwords</font></b>
<blockquote>Recall that you can always change the memory at startup with
the -memsize option, or during a Ferret session with the SET MEMORY command.</blockquote>
<a NAME="ppl memory buffer"></a><b><font size=+1>Plotting is no longer
limited by a fixed plot memory buffer</font></b>.
<blockquote>Memory for plotting is allocated as needed. Previously
there was a fixed memory buffer used for plotting.</blockquote>
<br>
<a NAME="dashed lines"></a><b><font size=+1>Control of dashed lines with
PLOT/DASH[=dn1,up1,dn2,up2]</font></b>
<blockquote>This allows use of all the color and thickness controls available
with the PLOT qualifiers and control over the dash characteristics using
the arguments as in the PPLUS "LINE" command: DOWN1, UP1, DOWN2,
UP2 in inches.
<p>Example:
<br><tt>plot/dash/i=1:1000 sin(62.8*i)</tt>
<br><tt>plot/over/dash=(0.4,0.1,0.4,0.1)/color=red/thick/i=1:1000 sin(62.8*(i+10)
)</tt>
<br><tt>plot/over/dash=(0.1,0.1,0.04,0.05)/color=blue/thick=1/i=1:1000
sin(62.8*(i+20) )</tt>
<br> </blockquote>
<a NAME="plot/axes"></a><b><font size=+1>New plot qualifier /AXES[=top,bottom,left,right]</font></b>
<blockquote>For all plot commands, turns plotting of individual axes off
and on. This replaces the use of the "PPL AXSET" command. The
syntax is
<p>PLOT/AXES[=top,bottom,left,right] where the arguments are 1 to
turn the axis on and 0 to turn it off. For example:
<p>CONTOUR/AXES=0,1,1,0 sst ! Plots the bottom and left
axes only</blockquote>
<p><br><a NAME="sym=dot"></a><b><font size=+1>New PLOT/SYMBOL=DOT</font></b>
<blockquote>Makes a dot at each point. This implements the GKS "dot"
polymarker, which uses the smallest dot that can be represented on
the display device (Note the dots may not show up well on all devices).</blockquote>
<a NAME="compress_by"></a><b><font size=+1>New functions COMPRESS*_BY compress
data according to a mask</font></b>
<blockquote>COMPRESSI_BY (var, mask), COMPRESSJ_BY (var, mask), COMPRESSK_BY
(var, mask), COMPRESSL_BY (var, mask)</blockquote>
<blockquote>Compress variable "dat" along its I (or J, K, or L) axis using
the (multi-dimensional) mask supplied in the second argument.
<br>For example:
<p><tt>yes? LET mask = {1,,1,,1} + 0*L[l=101:102] + 0*K[k=10:11]</tt>
<br><tt>yes? LIST mask</tt>
<br><tt>
{1,,1,,1} + 0*L[L=101:102] + 0*K[K=10:11]</tt>
<br><tt>
1 2 3
4 5</tt>
<br><tt>
1 2 3
4 5</tt>
<br><tt> ---- L:101 T: 101</tt>
<br><tt> 10 / 10: 1.000 .... 1.000
.... 1.000</tt>
<br><tt> 11 / 11: 1.000 .... 1.000
.... 1.000</tt>
<br><tt> ---- L:102 T: 102</tt>
<br><tt> 10 / 10: 1.000 .... 1.000
.... 1.000</tt>
<br><tt> 11 / 11: 1.000 .... 1.000
.... 1.000</tt>
<p><tt>yes? LIST compressi_by({11,22,33,44,55},mask)</tt>
<br><tt>
COMPRESSI_BY({11,22,33,44,55},MASK)</tt>
<br><tt>
1 2 3
4 5</tt>
<br><tt>
1 2 3
4 5</tt>
<br><tt> ---- L:101 T: 101</tt>
<br><tt> 10 / 10: 11.00 33.00 55.00
.... ....</tt>
<br><tt> 11 / 11: 11.00 33.00 55.00
.... ....</tt>
<br><tt> ---- L:102 T: 102</tt>
<br><tt> 10 / 10: 11.00 33.00 55.00
.... ....</tt>
<br><tt> 11 / 11: 11.00 33.00 55.00
.... ....</tt></blockquote>
<a NAME="list heading"></a><b><font size=+1>Modified heading output of
LIST command</font></b>
<blockquote>New lines list the file name and path, and complete information
on the subset of the data being listed. See the next section on LIST/WIDTH
for an example.</blockquote>
<a NAME="list/width"></a><b><font size=+1>New qualifier: LIST/WIDTH=columns</font></b>
<blockquote>For multi-column output, controls the width of the listing
on the page, for example:
<p><tt>yes? USE coads_climatology</tt>
<br><tt>yes? LIST/L=1/WIDTH=50/Y=0:4 sst</tt>
<br><tt>
VARIABLE : SEA SURFACE TEMPERATURE (Deg C)</tt>
<br><tt>
DATA SET : COADS Monthly Climatology (1946-1989)</tt>
<br><tt>
FILENAME : coads_climatology.des</tt>
<br><tt>
FILEPATH : /home/ja9/tmap/fer_dsets/descr/</tt>
<br><tt>
SUBSET : 180 by 2 points (LONGITUDE-LATITUDE)</tt>
<br><tt>
TIME : 16-JAN 06:00</tt>
<br><tt> ... listing every 36th point</tt>
<br><tt>
21E 93E 165E 123W
51W</tt>
<br><tt>
1 37 73
109 145</tt>
<br><tt> 3N / 47: .... 28.30 29.04
25.36 27.49</tt>
<br><tt> 1N / 46: .... 28.29 29.12
24.82 27.49</tt>
<p><tt>yes? LIST/L=1/WIDTH=80/Y=0:4 sst</tt>
<br><tt>
VARIABLE : SEA SURFACE TEMPERATURE (Deg C)</tt>
<br><tt>
DATA SET : COADS Monthly Climatology (1946-1989)</tt>
<br><tt>
FILENAME : coads_climatology.des</tt>
<br><tt>
FILEPATH : /home/ja9/tmap/fer_dsets/descr/</tt>
<br><tt>
SUBSET : 180 by 2 points (LONGITUDE-LATITUDE)</tt>
<br><tt>
TIME : 16-JAN 06:00</tt>
<br><tt> ... listing every 18th point</tt>
<br><tt>
21E 57E 93E 129E
165E 159W 123W 87W
51W 15W</tt>
<br><tt>
1 19 37
55 73 91
109 127 145 163</tt>
<br><tt> 3N / 47: .... 27.42 28.30
28.10 29.04 27.30 25.36 27.08 27.49
27.90</tt>
<br><tt> 1N / 46: .... 27.67 28.29
28.48 29.12 26.62 24.82 25.82 27.49
27.41</tt>
<br> </blockquote>
<a NAME="/title"></a><b><font size=+1>Allow the qualifier /TITLE for DODS
or NetCDF datasets</font></b>
<blockquote>SET DATA/TITLE associates a title with a dataset (previously
not allowd for these file types.<b><font size=+1>)</font></b>
<br><b><font size=+1></font></b>
<br><b><font size=+1></font></b> </blockquote>
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