Re: [ferret_users] ferret into the future

[Roland Schweitzer <Roland.Schweitzer@xxxxxxxx>]

John,

I cannot endorse your opinion 100%, but I can certainly sympathize with 
it.  Some learn the Ferret command line and scripting environment 
backwards and forward.  They find that its advantages (scripting and 
delayed evaluation) serves them well.  You're likely to hear from a few 
of the leading exponents of this position on this list.

I am a firm believer in the right tool for the job and the right tool 
for the person.  What's a good computer tool for me (a professional 
software engineer) and what's a good computer tool for my mom (a highly 
intelligent and well educated anthropologist) are two different things.

It's not my goal to drive away Ferret customers, but it is possible that 
you might find that CDAT (climate analysis and graphics wrapped in 
Python: http://www-pcmdi.llnl.gov/software-portal/cdat) from PCMDI suits 
you.

I'll leave it to others to speak to the future of Ferret.

Roland

Disclaimer: The above is my opinion and is not an official statement of 
any group other than me and what few brain cells of mine are active at 
this hour of the morning.

John Luick wrote:

> I would like to hear some ideas about the following...
>
> Are any plans to develop ferret into a major upgrade (I mean, aside 
> from the ongoing improvements and extensions)?
>
> There are some very nice features, as described in the "About Ferret" 
> page.  I am concerned that as long as it remains in its present form 
> it will eventually succumb to its competitors. I have seen reference 
> to a gui-based Ferret which evidently was unsuccessful. Was this 
> because the ferret command structure is inherently impossible to put 
> into that form, or do people simply prefer command-line scripts?
>
> Often, even after I get a new script to work, after some 
> experimentation, I'm still not sure why it worked. A lot of things are 
> counter-intuitive and hence readily forgotten. Here is a quote from a 
> Python user (from the ROMS discussion board): "Many other numerical 
> ocean circulation sects use ferret, or some similarly goofy tool." I 
> think that those counter-intuitive things have put a lot of people 
> off. I don't think "goofy" is quite fair, but sometimes the word 
> "sadistic" comes to mind!
>
> What I am suggesting is a higher-level layer over the top of the 
> current scripting tools that could perform most of what they presently 
> do. Those that prefer the scripts could still do so.
>
> In the mid 80's, I often used a set of graphics and analysis tools 
> from PMEL called "R2D2". These were very handy, easy to learn, and 
> perfectly understandable. So I know that PMEL has, or at least had, 
> what it takes!
>
> John