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| Paper: |
The Very Best of Several Worlds: Access to FITS in Ruby with SAS/DAL |
| Volume: |
281, Astronomical Data Analysis Software and Systems XI |
| Page: |
269 |
| Authors: |
Lammers, U.; Beijersbergen, M.; Thomas, M.; Vacanti, G. |
| Abstract: |
Ruby is an exciting new scripting language which combines the power and versatility of Perl with the object orientation of Python in the spirit of Smalltalk. The Data Access Layer (DAL) in the XMM-Newton Science Analysis System (SAS) provides C++ application code with a very clean and abstract interface to accessing FITS data files. RubyDAL combines the two domains through a framework that allows FITS data access in Ruby scripts employing a coding style that is very similar to using the DAL natively from C++. In addition, the weak-typing concept of Ruby translates almost naturally into automatic data type conversion in the interface layer, a feature that is not readily available from C++. The interface overhead is negligible --- the attainable data transfer rates are hence very close to that inherent in the DAL and the underlying CFITSIO library. |
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